Out Of This World: The Ashen One
by NunuBoy135
Summary: Kyle Ashen, an average joe, one day walked down the street, got hit by a car, and woke up as Ash Ketchum right on the very first day of his journey. After having a minor panic attack Kyle has decided to play along, having had enough of his boring life in the real world as it is. OC, but not self-insert. I own nothing except my OCs.
1. Well, That Was A Thing

**This is a rewrite of my original fic.**  
The themes and actions are overall the same, but I edited a lot of bad writing and errors (not all of them) and combined some of my shorter chapters for the purpose of convenience.

* * *

Kyle was currently sitting on his chair in front of the computer's screen, actually raising an eyebrow, not at all expecting this turn of events: Ash was on his way to the Kalos region finals to face Alain and his Mega Charizard X once more - this time for keeps.

In all honesty, Kyle Thought that it would have been weird for Ash to not get a rematch with Alain but he really didn't expect the guy to pull off something like that. Honestly, what would the fans say if Ash finally became a legitimate champion? Hmm...

'Welp, that was a thing' He mused briefly as he stood up, perhaps it would have been a better idea for him to simply continue watching, to know for a fact that this change wasn't just a move made by the producers to fake out the fans.

But frankly, Kyle couldn't be bothered at the He was always the type of person who thought about how things "could be" rather than what they are right As such, he would have a much better time speculating about a possible change in the anime rather than receiving it as a clear-cut fact.

No, instead Kyle Ashen walked out of his room, his parents were not home at the moment and he decided he wants to take a walk.

Yeah, walks helped him think, get his excitement and thoughts out there, in contrast to his otherwise boring life.

Seriously, wake up, go to school, come back, do what, in essence, amounts to nothing, and then do the same thing all over again. It was a mind-numbing process and it was also his life, so yeah, sucks to suck.

Kyle was an extremely average looking person, perhaps even downright plain, with only his piercing, judging eyes indicating a measure of otherwise unexpected cunning.

Walking out of the household's front door into a dull street, the youth proceeded with his short-term journey across the street, wearing a simple T-shirt and long pants.

He had a long begrudging hatred towards jeans, he liked dressing in a casual and nonchalant fashion.

Kyle was told that women, in general, find that kind of attitude attractive.

He was also told that often times the clothing did the person, but he chose to ignore that piece of advice altogether, as we often do when confronted with things that down align with our views of the world.

Suddenly, a car crashed into him.

It was entirely unremarkable, almost mocking in a sense and all in all very anti-climactic.

Kyle simply walked in front of a speeding car while crossing the road without even looking - he was a rebel at heart, after all.  
Plus, he was busy with his own thoughts - who had time for safety anyway?

The four-ton metal machine slammed into him with all the subtlety and grace of, well, a speeding car, which meant that it had no subtlety or grace to speak of.  
He was dead even before his head connected with the pavement.

In that sense, his death was peaceful and very unremarkable: After all, car accidents were at an all-time high.

And then, suddenly, he woke up again. He wasn't sure of what exactly what happened to him but decided to play it cool all the same.

Kyle rose to his feet casually, not noticing that he was much shorter all of a sudden.

It actually took him a moment to notice that he wasn't in his room, but rather in a childish one instead.  
What's up with all of those Pokemon props anyway? since when was he a collector? Did they even make this kind of stuff? Crazy Japanese people...

Wait, why was this morning anyway? Bah, he overslept apparently, took a nap or something. Yeah, that must've been it...

Coming out of his (his?) room into an unfamiliar hallway, Kyle grew cautious and walked to the bathroom with some careful consideration behind his steps.  
Seeing as he wasn't tied down or anything and was given some freedom of movement, he assumed that he wasn't kidnapped or anything, So there's that.

Walking into the bathroom he made eye contact with himself through the mirror, but the eyes that met his gaze were far too wide and child-like to be his own.

Then he noticed, for the first time, his own height and how everything was so darn tall (wait for a second, darn?).

In the mirror he saw the reflection of none other than Ash Ketchum, looking back at him with an odd, unusual expression.  
So Kyle did the only logical thing he could do - he screamed off the top of his lounges. A shrill sound it was, totally unmanly, not that he cared about that.

He heard someone walking up the stairs, the door came open, and out pops a brown-haired, kind-looking woman that leveled a look of concern at him. It was odd, and she was Delia Ketchum, wearing a pink short-sleeved button shirt and a long skirt past her knees.  
Ash's mom.

"Ash dear, is everything okay?" She asks, and Kyle can only think 'what the fudge (again?!) is going on?'.

"Uh, um, imma-need-to-go-see-you-kay-bye" he said, going at 200 words-per-minute before passing right at her side and running down the stairs, kicking back the door with his tiny 10-year-old foot and running away with all the speed his childish limbs could carry him, which was surprisingly rather quick. Ash was weirdly capable like that.

Moving at speeds no 10-year-old should be able to attain, Kyle (err, Ash?) began noticing how he didn't put any shoes on, and yet his feet didn't hurt all that much from running on a flat dirt road. He didn't even think he got any blisters, and his running form was a mess, too!

Okay, okay, time to think about it As surreal as it may seem, he was currently a part of the Pokemon world or at least the Anime's world.  
Judging from the feeling of pressure at his feet he would say that he wasn't dreaming, as shocking as it was to him, he decided to take it in stride.

Why? Being an All-around average son of two unremarkable individuals, Kyle was done with his mundane life, if Arceus and/or the drugs he was trippin' on wanted him to go around the Pokemon world and kick some major butt (E for everyone rating, is that why he can't swear?!) then he shall indeed do just that, thank you very much!

Plus, a go-with-the-flow kind of mentality will keep him as far away from a psychiatric hospital as possible, so yeah.  
'Go with the flow Kyle' he told himself 'Just... go'  
And so he did.

Heh, Kyle Ashen is Ash Ketchum.  
Whose bright idea was this stupid pun anyway? He could totally see it as a part of some half-assed (ha!) prophecy.

* * *

Finding the lab wasn't too hard.  
It was the tallest building in Pallet, and if that wasn't enough help, then the large crowd in front of the gates most definitely did the trick!

Didn't people have anything better to do? and then he heard them...

"Gary, Gary, he's the man! if he can't do it no one can!"

Wait, Gary? Gary Oak? Oh right, he used to be a jerk at the time, and those cheerleaders too...

Well...

"Excuse me!" Kyle shouted, pushing through the crowd, and randomly shoulder-bashing a cheerleader (Not on purpose!).

Kyle was at the gate when he heard the 'Hey!' shouts, only to slam directly at Gary Oak a second later and fall over.

Seriously, he was 17! 17! Getting knocked back by a 10-year-old, regardless of size, was just plain humiliating!

"Hey watch where you're going!" he heard the boy's pitched voice sneering at him, Kyle groggily stood up and locked eyes With Gary, it actually took him a moment to stutter out a confused "G-Gary?"

Now Gary was the confused one, giving him an odd expression before dismissing it as Ash being Ash.  
"Heh, that's Mr. Gary to you, show some respect!" the spiky-haired youth retorted, Kyle could only 'uhhh' at him, so he did just that.

"Well, looks like you're late! not that I expected anything else from you! You snooze you lose Ashy! behind right from the start-..."

By now, Kyle got his bearings and was deadpanning at Gary, his eyebrow Gary didn't notice though, and should Kyle not cut him off he would continue wasting his time.

"Yeah yeah, good for you." But Kyle did cut him off, Making Gary gape at this unusual retort "I got Pokemons to catch, trainers to beat, you have fun with your baby Pokemon."

Kyle tapped Gary's shoulder and passed him, not noticing all of the eyes that were resting upon him.

Gary Snapped out of his shock after a moment, adopting the same arrogant tone and look.

"Well Ashy, I bet you can't guess my Pokemon!" he almost screamed in spite. Yeah, that ought to get a reaction out of him! Only, it didn't.

"Squirtle" Kyle retorted, causing some people in the crowd to gasp, and Gary to snap his neck to look at him, stupefied.

"How did you know?!" He practically demanded, Kyle just shrugged.  
"3 choices and you don't look like the Bulbasaur type to me, so it was a 50-50 chance" Kyle explained, a tad too reasonably to be the real Ash, but that part was a work in progress.

He couldn't, however, bite back saying "Smell ya later Gary!" to the young Oak.

Going up the stairs, he noticed Professor Oak, Lab coat and all, just about to go down towards him, before he stopped and took a look at the unusually still crowd of people. Tilting his head in confusion, Samuel Oak noticed Ash.

"Why, would you happen to know the reason that all of them just, err, stand there?" the esteemed researcher asked and Kyle just shrugged in return.

"Dunno." He said exuberantly, his eyes alight at the prospect of an adventure "Hey, hey! I heard Gary got a Pokemon already! What about me?! I wanna get my Pokemon too!"

Under normal conditions, Kyle would never show such raw emotion but had 'normal' long since flown out of the window.

The Professor blinked for a moment, noticing that the crowd was dispersing, before taking a good look at Kyle, a smile crawling up his face.

"A Pokemon?" he said, clearly amused, something which only caused Kyle to stomp on the ground angrily, why was Oak holding him up like that anyway?

"Yes! I am ready!" He actually shouted, but Oak's smile only Grew, a sense of mirth adorning his eyes.

"You look like you are ready for bed, not for Pokemon training" the Professor Quipped.

Kyle looked down, before chuckling, abashed.

"Ehh, I can Fix that" he said, before remembering why he was Might as well get down to it "But I am ready for a Pokemon!"

* * *

The lab was painfully plain, not at all what Kyle would expect. Sure, it got that futuristic look but it really wasn't 'All That'.  
To Kyle, that really didn't matter right now, for he was contemplating on what Pokemon he should take.

Surely, all of the 'normal' starters were taken already, as they were in the Anime, but Kyle didn't really mind.  
He didn't want any 'normal' starter anyway, if everything went according to the anime he would get a Pikachu, which was... fine?  
But honestly, the more Kyle thought about it, the less he wanted Pikachu as his starter: Kyle wanted to do something great here, while this illusion or what-not lasted at least, and quite frankly Ash's Pikachu that great of a Pokemon.

Sure, he was loyal, but only after Ash nearly killed himself for the Mouse-Pokemon's sake, he didn't want to evolve at all, which only meant that he was afraid of change, or at least that's how Kyle saw it.

And at the moment, Kyle was all about change: Change his persona, Change his relations, heck, change the very planet upon which he walked.  
A constant as the ever stale and Familiar Pikachu wouldn't suit him at all given the circumstances, they won't mesh together well.

Plus, Kyle wasn't noble or foolish enough to stare death in the eye in order to protect a stranger.

Of course, if Oak would offer him Pikachu and Pikachu alone, Kyle would take the Rat in a heartbeat, heck, even if Samuel offered him a Zubat Kyle would still play along.  
He really was just that desperate.

They arrived in front of a familiar station with 3 Pokeballs that Kyle knew for a fact to be empty. Seriously, what was Oak trying to pull off anyway?

Meh, if nothing else, Kyle would play along for that heck of it.

Flexing his shoulders a bit, Kyle just grabbed one Pokeball randomly, something which caused Oak to raise an eyebrow at him, since normally people were more selective with their choices.

The Pokeball snapped open, empty, what a shock.

"Already taken-..." only to be cut off by Kyle as he took another Pokeball, which was also empty. Oak smiled a little at the excitable boy, Kyle just wanted to get this over with.

Another Pokeball, nothing. Kyle dismissed it just as quickly and took the last one, opening it, and facing no result what so ever.

Oak rubbed his chin thoughtfully "The early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the Pokemon" he quipped, causing Kyle to actually smile a little, but he quickly schooled his features and gave Oak a pleading, pouty look.

"Does this mean that there isn't a Pokemon left for me? didn't you plan for 4 trainers today Professor?"

The Question took Oak by surprise, not expecting this level of perception from the otherwise blunt Ash Ketchum. Maybe Gary was wrong about his childhood friend yet?

Ash did always have a certain... spark to him, these changes he was noticing were positive, maybe the boy was simply maturing? It was a bit of a shame, really, for one so young, but also a good thing in such dangerous times.

Tilting His head thoughtfully Oak decided to take some time and think, at first he planned to give Ash a Pikachu which he caught a few days prior but was there really no alternative...?

"Well, I could always give you one of the Pidgeies, we have plenty of those." He soon found himself saying.

Kyle actually blinked, this is different.

"Ugh, well yeah, I mean... Pidgeies are pretty common, right? I could always catch one just down the road" He didn't dare to get his hopes up.  
Plus, if everything went well then he would be the proud owner of a Pidgeotto soon enough.

"Yes, I suppose..." Oak mumbled in thought "How about a Nidoran? Those would make for good companions. I also have a Pikachu, however that specific specimen is rather volatile and I couldn't give it to you in good conscience as your starter, no offense"

"None taken, sir! I actually had a lot of time to think about it." he lied "And the more I thought about it the more I realized that I want to do things differently, my way! Like a real master!"

Oak looked a little uncomfortable, it was unusual for Ash to think such thoughts, however childishly, but foresight was an overall good quality to have.  
So why was it bothering him like so?

Still, it was something the good Professor could both respect and relate to, which made him all the more willing to help Ash out in whatever way he could.

And then, it hit him.

A smile crept up Oak's lips, one that Kyle found to be rather creepy, as he grabbed both of Ash's shoulders and shook him a bit.

"I got just the one! Wait here!" and he ran out of the door, surprisingly into what Kyle assumed was the Oak Corral.

Whatever, it wasn't like Kyle had anywhere else to go...

In fact, it was the opposite - he was here to stay, it was a weird, but rather pleasant thought all the same.

After what seemed like half an hour, and in fact was just that, Samuel Oak, emerged from the Corral, only to see Ash standing there, bouncing on his heels and fidgeting in suppressed excitement.  
Oak Smiled. Now **this** was the Ash Ketchum the Old Professor knew and loved.

"This one is actually very special, It came from a breeding program supervised by the esteemed Professor Elm all the way from the Johto region, although it is native to Kanto."

By this point Kyle was already panting and hoping in one place, man Oak sure knew how to make a good exposition.

He tossed the Pokeball and out came a Pokemon that Kyle did not expect in the slightest.

It was an Elekid, the type of Pokemon that genuinely made the otherwise aloof boy squeal in delight. Oak chuckled.

Elekid stood up and checked its surroundings, there was the old man wearing the same lab coat he wore every day (the very same one), and next to him stood some kid who looked like a total pushover if he was being honest. Wearing some PJs and all, Elekid huffed out loud in indignation.

"Elekid here is a very special Pokemon." Oak began explaining "For you see, Professor Elm's breeding program was meant to determine mental and physical differences between similar Pokemon with different parents."  
"This Elekid was bred from a rather loyal Electabuzz that belonged to a retired ranger and a jolly assistant Mr. Mime. After Checking and confirming general data Professor Elm sent him over just yesterday to rehabilitate him to wildlife." He coughed, slightly embarrassed "Well, as wild as my Corral can be, but Elekid is otherwise a perfect fit as a starter, matching all the criteria set by the League."

As Kyle listened, Elekid got bored, so he raised his fist and poked Oak with it, zapping the old fool in the process.

The professor yelped in shock, both literally and figuratively, and fell on his bum, hissing.

Kyle blinked for a second, and then he burst out in laughter, joined by Elekid's snickering. Somehow he got the feeling they would get along just fine.

"Alright buddy, gimme five!" Kyle opened his palm, Elekid raised its own chubby arm to high-five its fellow youth, but Kyle noticed the malicious gleam in Elekid's eye, moving his arm away just in time to avoid being zapped by a stray spark.

Meanwhile, the professor looked at the exchange with a small pained smile. The 'pained' part is because even a small zap stung a lot.  
His smile dropped into a somber expression when the annoyed Elekid huffed and hit Ash with a Thunder Shock, causing him to drop to the ground, fidgeting.

"Quite the electrifying personality, wouldn't you say?" Commented Oak with comical amounts of seriousness in his voice, he apparently has a sick and vindictive sense of humor, the bastard. (Yes! All of the bad words!).

"yeahhh... I se-ee what you d-i-d-d there-e-e-e, gooddd oneee..."  
"Shocking, isn't it?" He just rubbed it in, for the heck of it.

'S-screw y-you!' Kyle mentally screamed.

Elekid just continued snickering, not entirely disliking the boy. He will give him the benefit of the doubt.  
For now, anyway.

* * *

After taking a set of 6 Pokeballs and a surprisingly advanced-looking red Pokedex from Professor Oak, Kyle decided to give Elekid and himself some time to get to know each-other, and as such he did not return the Electric Pokemon back to its Pokeball, a gesture that Elekid... honestly didn't care for.

No, instead the two walked down the stairs alongside Professor Oak, something which made Kyle remember that he was wearing Ash's PJs with no shoes to boot. Darn.

Not surprisingly, in front of the lab's gate stood Delia Ketchum alongside some other were making a lot of noise.  
Heck, some of them even held a big 'Go Ash go!' sign. Kid sure was popular around these parts of town. Who knew?

That aside, the fact that those people were giving him odd looks, probably due to his attire, alongside the encouraging smiles was rather odd to him.  
Kyle wasn't used to much attention, so it really caught him off guard.

He chose to disregard it for the moment, Focusing on Mrs. Ketchum (or maybe Miss? Who knew?).

"Umm, hey mom!" Kyle said, putting on a forced smile. God this was so weird. Hopefully he could cope with it for now. Maybe.

"Oh, Ashy, I am so proud of you! you are finally going to fulfill your dream and start your Pokemon training! But i-gon-.." By God, why is she getting so emotional here?! It made Kyle all the more uncomfortable "I am going to miss you so, so, much, my little boy..."

By now Delia was sniffling into the backside of Ash's backpack, Kyle just rubbed the back of his head bashfully while Elekid was giving everyone measuring looks.

"Don't worry mom! I'm a big kid now!" Heavens help him, that dialogue was so cliché! "Pokemon trainers can take care of themselves you know!"

Delia gave him a small and sincere smile, which made his stomach clench, feeling the sheer guilt of it all crawling up his back

"I know Ash, and I am just so proud of you, oh my little boy!" at this she actually pulled Kyle into a warm hug that made Elekid tilt its head in slight wonder, humans sure were affectionate, it was odd to the tiny Pokemon, to say the least.

Elekid really didn't care much for its mother, and his father was a joke, who would take a Mr. Mime seriously anyway?  
It recalled how the rest of the bred Elekids had fighting types as parents, how powerful they all were physically, how all of them could perform those different amazing attacks.

With some sudden eye-twitching it recalled how they made fun of him over his 'egg move' and over the fact that among the bred Elekids he was physically the weakest and least capable, in term of both pure brawn and agility.

As for Kyle, this was getting very awkward very quickly.  
Did she really have to hug him? His real parents were both busy careerists, so he really didn't get much physical affection growing up and he preferred it that way. But now? Fate was just mocking him, he would bet a 100$ to anyone that this part never happened in the anime!

After Delia pulled away and handed Kyle Ash's backpack, he decided it was time to get a move on, and so he did.  
Putting the backpack on his back he marched off, to Viridian and beyond!

"Sweetie, you forgot to change your clothes."

Oh, um...

right after he changed that is!

* * *

Walking up a hill away from Pallet, Kyle could only wonder about the recently occurring events - becoming Ash Ketchum aside and all.

during the time it took him to change clothes and bid everyone farewell it was very much apparent that Delia was onto him.

Stupid female intuition.

Stupid mother intuition.

maybe it was the way he walked, maybe the way he talked, but a mother should know best and Delia certainly did.

So right now Kyle was walking up the hill, with Elekid at his side, both were looking forward until Kyle realized something and stopped.  
Elekid took a few more steps himself before stopping as well, recognizing that he and the boy Ash weren't in line with each other.

Kyle waved at Elekid to hold on for a moment as he took out his newly acquired Pokedex. After shortly examining the advice he pointed it Elekid and after a moment and a confirming 'ting!' sound Kyle checked out the information.

And his mind was prominently blown away.  
The information was extensive, very much so in fact, ranging between Biological & Mental evaluation & data all the way to possible moves and how to teach them. There were at least 50,000 words in those documents, Videos included as well!

This made the anime's Pokedex look like a complete joke in comparison, or maybe they were one and the same and Ash was just being a big dum-dum? Maybe.

Looking over the 'General Info' part of the page, Kyle proceeded to read some of it.

Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. Elekid is the pre-evolved form of Electabuzz. It generates electricity by spinning its arms. Elekid's weak spot is between its horns, but the electric current that runs there can shock the unwary. It gains strength when lightning is present. Even in the most vicious storm, this Pokémon plays happily if thunder rumbles in the sky. This Elekid is male and has the ability Static, it knows the following moves: Quick Attack, Leer, Thunder Shock, and Barrier. This Elekid is 8 months old, reaches the height of 0.72 meters and weighs 27.5 Kg. Overall status: Healthy.

Kyle was taken aback by the fact that Elekid knew Barrier. 'How' would have been a good question to ask, but Elekid and he really couldn't communicate properly yet, so he was forced to take a guess.

'Must've been an egg move from that Mr. Mime that Elekid was bred from' Kyle mused to himself. That was actually a good thing as far as he could tell.  
Sure, it wasn't an offensive move, but after checking the Pokedex for more information Kyle found out that 'Barrier' wasn't a fully psychic defense move by itself, but rather a nimble use of psychic, pushing particles together in front of the user and around, for however briefly, to create a wall, or an armor, of "matter" that was held together by a constant psychic wave.  
Due to its thick and physical nature Barrier is a very good move to use against all types of blunt, pushing, and wide-spread attacks. However when faced against a piercing force or just a type of force that lacks pushing/crushing power (e.g Flamethrower) Barrier loses much of its usefulness.

That... made some sense to Kyle. He never thought that Pokemon mechanics could be overall so well thought out, for a lack of better words.

Kyle smiled at Elekid, who actually looked unnerved at that.

"Man, that's awesome! To think you know a move like Barrier!" Elekid's eyes widened at that "You are the most awesome starter in the world!"

Was the boy mocking him? Elekid changed his mind, he didn't like this punk kid after all, not one bit. Putting on a facade, Elekid smiled and walked up to Ash, only to punch him in the stomach. Hard. And he added a Thunder Shock just to spite the stupid insensitive jerk.  
Did he mention that Kyle was stupid? Because he was!

Falling to his knees from the blow Kyle gasped, only the have his breath taken yet again, this time by the high voltage going through his body.

The trainer collapsed face first to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. His arms were shut and he could barely move them. Actually, he could barely move at all due to the electricity overdose jamming his nervous system.

"B-but whyyyyyy?" was all he could manage when Elekid turned on its heel and started walking away. Not that Kyle was going to let his journey end this way!

After taking a few steps Elekid suddenly bumped into some other Pokemon judging by its height. Oh, great, one of those stupid birds.

Said stupid bird squawked angrily and flew to the air, determined to punish the idiotic (and unfamiliar) Pokemon.

However, as it turned out, the Spearow ended up being the butt of their joke.

Elekid raised its arms, using barrier to increase its own relative bulk, and flat-out caught Spearow by its wings, being pushed a few feet back from the impact.  
Giving Spearow a nasty Slasher Smile, Elekid hit it with a fully powered Thunder Shock point-blank.  
Spearow fell over, powerless to resist further.

In Elekid's Mind, the only thing that his barrier was good for is taking hits.  
And the fact that he made for a good punching bag wasn't something he took pride in, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Kyle stared at this scene in shock, not expecting this level of ability from Elekid.  
Sure, the Electric Pokemon may have had the type advantage, but it didn't seem to Kyle as a battle between two Pokemon on the same level - Elekid took Spearow to school!

Elekid meanwhile checked over its arms in some dismay. Stupid Barrier, stupid Mr. Mime, if he wasn't so weak he would have caught Spearow with pure physical strength alone, Or maybe he would have just flat-out Countered it with that nasty ice punch move that some of the others could do, but this was disgraceful.

Elekid was so busy with self-pity that he didn't notice the prideful Spearow pull back to its feet, a look humiliation in its eyes. One way or another...

He. Wil. Pay!

Opening its mouth to alert the rest of their flock, Spearow could only feel something hitting the side of its head before being dematerialized.

He was hit, of course, by a Pokeball that Kyle picked up and threw at him after getting up.  
Kyle didn't trust fate not to spite him the same way it did to Ash so he was ready with a Pokeball at hand from the moment he pulled back to its feet.  
Turns out he was right, and Spearow was indeed about to call for backup. Kyle, however, was ready.

Elekid took a step back in suprise when Spearow was sucked into the Pokeball before turning back to Kyle and giving him a nasty look.

"Hey, don't give me that look! That Spearow was about to call for backup, and as strong as you are you wouldn't be able to deal with an entire flock of those birds!"

Him? Strong? Elekid's expression twisted in contempt and he just continued walking. A shout of 'OH COME ON!' could be heard from Kyle before he gave chase, picking up Spearow's pokeball while at it.

Man, dealing with moody Pokemon sure was tough.  
They didn't show you this side of them in the games, did they? It was an Anime-Only kind of thing, right? Then again, it did make much more sense.

So there he was, Kyle Ashen, walking around the Pokemon world and following a moody baby Pokemon.  
Well, still better than being home, he supposed. However Kyle did wonder, what exactly happened to his body? What happened to Ash? Yeah, on second thought, he wasn't going to think about it.

Going further down the road after the annoyed Elekid, Kyle could hear rushing water, He quickly recalled how Ash jumped down a waterfall in the first episode.  
This means that somewhere around here was a waterfall, and very close to it was Misty.  
He.. didn't know how he was going to deal with Misty, or if he wanted to deal with her at all, but he will just have to improvise.

That is after he gets Elekid to stop being a jerk and to listen to him!

"Was it something I said?"

"Ele-kid!"

"Look can you just please stop walking away from me like that?"

Well, he was persistent. Elekid decided to humor him and actually did stop. Kyle stopped as well.

"Look, if I did something that displeased you then I am sorry. I want to be your friend, can't you have a little faith in me?" at this Kyle walked over and knelt in front of Elekid, looking the tiny Pokemon in the eye.

"I don't know what you may think about yourself or me, but I want us to be a team. And not just some team too, but the very best one there is. You have plenty of potential, and together we will have to work at it to get there."  
Potential? Elekid himself preferred to think that he had plenty of potential that was just waiting to be unleashed, it helped him fight off the cruelty of reality.

Together did he say? Mmm, alright then.

Giving one nod to confirm his thoughts, Elekid proceeded to walk forward.  
Kyle chuckled at that and decided to walk in line with Elekid this time around before outright cutting a step ahead of the Electric Pokemon, who didn't seem to mind all that much.

Walking down the road near the river, he could hear the sound of a waterfall crashing down.

After coming out of the undergrowth and looking right, he did indeed see Misty just standing around and fishing, and certainly not looking like person who has the potential to change his whole life.

Smiling slightly, Kyle decided to walk over and greet her.

After passing her bike, and thanking the Pokegods that he didn't get it destroyed, he stood at her side and greeted her. "Hello!"

A squeal later, and an elbow connected with his nose, making him fall over. clutching his face in pain Kyle gave her a look. Misty actually gasped at this.

"Oh, I am so sorry-I... Wait, why should I be sorry?! What were you thinking sneaking up on me like that kid? Who are you anyway?"

For someone who only arrived to the Pokeworld, he sure was getting beat up a lot. This was the fourth time something hit him, and he has been here for about four hours.  
He really should be scared for his health.

"Well hello there too." Kyle commented, "It's not polite to ask for someone's name without giving your own first." This wasn't the right response to give, seeing as Misty just gave him an angry look in return as she pouted, clearly miffed.

That was actually kind of cute, in little-girl terms that is.

"Misty, and who might you be?"

"Well, Misty, name is Ky-Ash Ketchum" Misty raised an eyebrow at his slip-up and Kyle mentally cursed, hopefully she won't-...

"Kyash Ketchum? That's an odd name." she said suspiciously and Kyle decided just to go along with it. His new go with the flow mentality and all that jazz.

"Yeah, sure, you're telling me." he shrugged it off "So, are you fishing for water types? That's really cool!"

Misty rolled her eyes and took note of Elekid, figuring that he must be one of those new trainers from Pallet. She could entertain him she supposed.

"Yeah, but not just some lame ones! Not that there is such a thing as a lame water Pokemon of course, but I want the really special ones!"

And just like that, there was a sudden pull on her fishing rod and Misty pulled hard on it, only for a Magikarp to come out and land on the rubble between them, Kyle just stared.

There was a moment of silence, and then...  
"Not a word" Misty warned, but instead of saying something mean a huge smile appeared on Kyle's face.

"Hey, hey! would you mind if I caught this Magikarp?!" Kyle asked, vibrating with energy.

Misty was taken aback by his excitement over a Magikarp, but smiled a little and nodded.

It was nice to see people taking such great interest in a Magikarp instead of just mocking the poor Water-Type.

Elekid narrowed its eyes, not believing what his trainer just said.  
This thing looked even weaker than the Spearow from earlier!

Kyle simply smiled, he was fully prepared to train a Magikarp, Knowing that a mighty Gyarados lies inside that stupid, dull face.

Pointing dramatically at the Magikarp, Kyle exclaimed "Magikarp, I challenge you to a battle!"

Misty looked at him as though he was an idiot, Elekid facepalmed, and Magikarp just continued to splash sand around dumbly.

"C'mon Elekid! Hit it with you Thunder Shock!"

Elekid snapped its fingers, generating some static electricity, which it flung lazily at the dumb fish, zapping it hard. Hopefully his trainer will stop wasting time and take this 'training' business seriously.

Kyle tossed a Pokeball and hit Magikarp with it. It was sucked in and offered no resistance what so ever, making it an instant capture.

Kyle walked forward and picked up the Pokeball. This was his second capture today!

Misty just sighed

"You know, you could have just thrown a Pokeball at it and catch it right away, right?"

And before Kyle could answer her, Out pops a giant Gyarados from the river.

You know, Pokemon in real life might sound awesome and all, and Gyarados was awesome as well, **terrifyingly** awesome that is.

Over 30 feet in length and thicker than an Oak tree, with a face that screamed terror, Gyarados roared, unleashing a massive shockwave with nothing but its voice.

Misty was frozen in fear, as unmoving as a statue and Kyle wasn't any doing any better.  
That thing was a monster, there was no way in hell he could take on it. Elekid just fell on its behind, the fear of death washing all over it, for once overpowering his bravado.

And then came the real kicker.

Gyarados looked straight at them and generated a Hyper-Beam, an orange ball of death.  
Misty snapped out of her stupor and grabbed one of her Pokeballs, she wasn't going to make it however.  
Kyle couldn't help but wonder how deep was this river anyway?

"Raichu, use Thunder!"

* * *

And... done!

I thought about writing a story for a while, but I didn't, mostly because English is my fourth language and I am not confident in my ability as a writer to pull off anything presentable.  
I gave it a shot anyway and I think that I still pulled off something half-decent.

 **This isn't a Self-Insert  
**

An OC he may be, but Kyle and I are not alike.  
This should be further augmented by the fact that the story is written in third-person

 **About my choice of having Elekid be Kyle's Starter**

Truth be told, Pikachu and Kyle would be an absolutely terrible team.

Pikachu starts off as a jerk, although not an unreasonable one (Pokemon training is basically slavery)  
Kyle Wouldn't be able to earn his trust the same way that Ash did simply because Kyle isn't "heroic" or like Ash is - If given the choice, he would rather leave a stranger to die than to face the same fate himself.

Not an unreasonable thing to do, but one that Pikachu would not appreciate.

But even without that problem, we still have plenty more to cover.

Let's assume for a moment that Kyle **did** earn Pikachu's trust, somehow.  
Pikachu is energetic, friendly, slightly naive and trusting.

Kyle is none of those things, instead opting to view the world with some rather bleak pessimism.  
Plus, having an "opposites attract" kind of starter would only frustrate Kyle (and not in a fun way), I'd much rather have someone that compliments his personality and traits.

Which is why I think that A bitter, vindictive, battle-hungry and oddly complex Elekid was the right way to go about it.  
After all, Pikachu has never beaten a member of the Electabuzz family line before.

Plus, from a writers point of view, I'd rather have Kyle's starter grow alongside him.  
Pikachu just doesn't fit the criteria

 **Elekid's Strength**

Elekid is a bred Pokemon  
By default, this makes him better than most - He was carefully raised in optimal conditions, has a solid grasp of his egg move and plenty of fighting experience against the other Elekids.

In that sense, Elekid is much stronger than most wild Pokemon within its age group.  
Still, he is but a big fish in a small pond - as he will soon learn.

 **Gyarados**

This part is actually 100% canon.  
During the first episode, when Ash was being chased around by the Spearow flock, he jumped into the river.

The river was unreasonably deep and had a bunch of water Pokemon inhabiting it.  
One which happened to be a Gyarados.

Plus, you didn't think that I'd make Kyle's life **that** easy, did you? On one hand, he avoided the Spearow flock but on the other hand, he is staring a murderous Gyarados straight in the face.


	2. Make A Difference

**Proxenx** : Is Ash going to be an Aura Guardian?

 **Answer** : I actually really really dislike the Aura Guardian thing that a lot of stories have in them. Even as far as fanfics go, it is extremely unimaginative in my opinion. Making Kyle/Ash an Aura Guardian would be too easy and generic, y'know what I'm saying?

 **Vixal** : Is Ash going to get a Dartini?

 **Answer** : Meh, who knows? Honestly, I didn't think that far, but even if he does the time it's going to take Dragonair to evolve into Dragonite is going to be very long.

As a side note, after Elekid Evolves I was planning on letting him stay an Electabuzz for a very long time.  
One reason for that is that I like Electabuzz much more than I do Electivire, but also because I rather have Electabuzz improve through skill rather than getting a power-up.

* * *

"Raichu, use Thunder!"

Until Kyle saw that monster-class Gyarados he actually forgot that Pokemon were, in essence, 'pocket monster'.  
Keyword being 'monsters'.  
Heck, even seeing a giant rat such as Rattata would probably scare him senseless - That thing could bite off his leg in a heartbeat. With those teeth? No effort at all.

So when Gyarados came out of that river (how did it fit there in the first place?!) Kyle was ready to just drop dead from a heart attack right then and there, and that was even before Gyarados generated that monstrous beam of unidentified energy.

So you could imagine that the next scene was even more shocking to him.

A gigantic blast of raw electricity shot up to the skies, generating a large clouded area above them in milliseconds, before a massive surge of electric plasma came down from the heavens.

If Kyle had to describe what was happening, he would say that Zeus himself rose from his sit up there in mount Olympus, picked up his personal lightning bolt, and struck down that oversized sea-serpent with all the vengeance of an angry drunk.

The yellow plasma encased Gyarados, charging the air itself with an improbable amount of stray electrons.  
Whatever energy Gyarados prepared for its Hyper-Beam exploded in its face, the blast was powerful enough to knock both Kyle and Misty off their and hurl them back.  
Kyle could feel himself slamming into Elekid, an unpleasant discharge passing through his body.  
Must have been Elekid's ability. Luckily for him, the effect was minimal.

between the blowing wind, the rising tide, the screeching of the continuous electric discharge and Gyarados's own roars of pain, Kyle could see a silhouette of a man walking in front of him and standing there in defiance.

Eventually the flow stopped, and Gyarados collapsed like a sack of bricks with a loud 'thud'. Once the dust settled Kyle could make his savior's figure. It was a blond man with an odd, spiky haircut and no facial hair. He couldn't be much older than 16, but more noticeably he was wearing a Ranger's garb.

Huh, that was unexpected.

Next to him stood his Raichu, it looked very powerful and experienced. Despite Raichu's 'cute' appearance (He was after all basically a chubby, yellow, giant rodent) upon closer inspection one could notice that it was very muscular under all that 'fat', the type of strength you could expect from a professional bodybuilder.

Raichu's fur was conducting the electricity that came from its cheeks to great effect.  
As the electricity passed through its body Kyle first noticed that behind Raichu's cute exterior it was a deadly force as Gyarados could attest, or maybe not, seeing as it was knocked out cold.

The trainer tossed a Pokeball at the Gyarados, capturing it instantly before turning his attention to our young heroes.  
"Hey kids!" he suddenly shouted, knocking Kyle, Elekid, and Misty out their stupor "you alright there?"

Kyle's mouth felt very dry for some reason, so it was up to Misty to answer the trainer.

"Yeah, we are fine. Thanks for the help back there, but who are you anyway?" Figures Misty would be rude even to someone who saved her life.  
"Name's Jack, I'm a league official and for now I work under the Viridian-city Gym as an enforcer and active ranger. You two are trainers, right? That Gyarados was a stray Magikarp from a lake near Viridian that randomly evolved. It took us a lot of time to track it down, mainly because it was hiding so deep underwater."

Now wait for just a second!

"Hey, why was the water in that stupid river deep enough for a Gyarados to swim in it anyway?" Kyle asked. That didn't make any sense to him what so ever.

In turn Misty slapped the back of his head. This was starting to get really old, really fast.

"Hey! You shouldn't be this rude to someone who saved your life!" Pfff, look who's talking.

Jack actually chuckled at this before he waved his hand dismissively and fixed Kyle an interested look.

"No, no, he's right. That was a good observation."

Misty actually did a double take and frowned when Kyle smirked at her.

"You see, this river is actually man-made. It was meant to withstand and neutralize all of the Surface runoff caused by the water that comes down from near Pallet town. If it wasn't for the rivers, plural, around this area the entire forest would have been flooded a long time ago."

That... was a good explanation, Kyle was actually impressed, but he still had one more question.

"But wait, if the river is so deep and long, how can so much water be contained in a single lake? Even as a water source, it is too much for one lake obscure lake, and Viridian city isn't all that big in the first place."

Both Misty and Elekid were giving him inquisitive looks, and Jack smiled a little.

"True, which is why the water and farming industries in Viridian are so advanced. Viridian supplies clean water to Pewter city and a few small towns nearby as well, all the way to ol' Rota itself. There is also a large underwater tunnel system near Viridian lake that many Pokemon inhabit. One of my jobs as a ranger is to defend this both river and Viridian's lake"

Satisfied with the answer, Kyle nodded and Jack smiled at him.

"Do you kids want some help getting to Viridian?"

Misty wanted to say something, but Kyle cut her off "Yeah sure, I would love to!"  
Misty huffed "No thank you, sir."

"Sir? I am only 16! I need to keep it young you know!" He said and begun laughing, Misty did the same out of politeness, but it came out sounding very fake and insincere. Kyle and Elekid didn't even bother with such a thing and just deadpanned at that stupid line.

Jack must've noticed the awkward atmosphere and coughed, changing the subject.

"Well alright, kid, so you're coming with me. See you later girly" Jack said and waved Misty, whose face flashed with some real anger, before turning to Kyle and waving him to follow. Kyle did follow, and soon enough they left Misty behind.

Kyle himself was rather deep in thought: Was this truly the power of a legitimate trainer around this world? Heck, Ash's Pikachu possibly was as powerful as this Raichu, if not even more so. How long will it take him to catch up with the Pokemon League monsters?

"Well, about our ride..." he heard Jack, sounding sheepish "I really didn't have anything planned out for this, but...!" and in an extravagant motion he drew a cellphone-like device.

"With this, what's your name, I shall find us 'a ride'!"

Kyle gave him an odd look. Elekid, which Kyle didn't notice up until now, actually gasped a little when he noticed the device.

"Uh, and what 'this' would be? Name's Ash by the way." Jack was only too happy to answer

"Well Ash, this is the Capture Styler! With this, a ranger can call upon the assistance and help of a wild Pokemon briefly!"

"Oh, so you force a Pokemon to listen to you via Suggestions, eh?" This was not what he expected to hear, it actually caused Jack to stop mid-motion.  
"Just like brainwashing, huh?" This time he grimaced.  
"You sick, twisted ma-..."

" **OKAY I GET IT!** " Jack actually screamed at him, scaring away some of the wildlife. Elekid and Raichu began snickering at that.

Jack sighed.

"Look, if anything the Capture Styler is more like Hypnosis. Not the Pokemon move, but like the actual human therapy process. Point is, you can't hypnotize someone into doing something they resist in the most basic level of their thoughts, and they can easily resist this type of capture by breaking out of the Capture Zone. The Styler was meant to create a connection between the Pokemon and the Ranger, to make them understand one another, there is nothing oppressive about it."

Well, now Kyle was actually feeling like a total jerk. He should apologize, but before he could Jack just waved him off.  
"No worries kid, forget about it. Just put Elekid back in the Pokeball and we will be off on our way."

Kyle locked eyes with Elekid, it looked uncaring, so Kyle figured it was fine and he pulled back a Pokeball, which opened and shot out a red ray of light.

And out came Magikarp, Karping around the dirt dumbly. Kyle, Jack, Elekid and Raichu all sweatdropped at this.

"Ugh, sorry about it." Jack just sighed.

"Man, you're a beginner alright." Kyle actually rolled his eyes. All of those Pokeballs looked and felt the same, how was he supposed to know which was which anyway? Returning Magikarp, Kyle pulled yet another Pokeball.  
This one turned out to be the correct one to use, and Elekid was put back in its Pokeball.

Jack smirked and his Styler opened up.

"Lucky for you, I found just the Pokemon to give us a ride!"

The styler came flying out and begun circling around two Pokemon that Kyle didn't notice but were there anyway. two Pidgeot, how convenient.  
Then he caught up the meaning behind this. Wait, did that mean...?

A second later and the capture was complete, both Pokemon flying over and landing in front of Jack, who already put Raichu back in its Pokeball as well. Somehow.

"Well kid, hop on!"

Dang it!

* * *

Misty suddenly stopped riding her bike when she heard a frightful scream, looking up she saw Jack and Ash Riding two Pidgeot, flying away, with Ash screaming the entire way.

She immediately fell off her bike, laughing like crazy.

* * *

According to the Pokedex, Pidgeots were very powerful Pokemon: Their gusts were strong enough to rip large trees off the ground and their muscle structure, along with their speed, maneuverability and eyesight make them devastating predators.  
For their prey, the biggest struggle to overcome was Pidgeot's speed: Even wild Pidgeots could easily go well over Mach 2. So honestly, whose bright idea was it to ride a supersonic bird for the heck of it? Must have been some pretty brave guy, or maybe just a plain suicidal one.

The journey didn't take very long, and the Pidgeot Kyle was riding turned out to be a very adept and stable flyer, not that it made flying on top of it any less scary. Well, it did, but not enough, not really. This wasn't like anything Kyle has ever experienced in his life. No one that knew him well enough would say that Kyle has a fear of heights, but this was just terrifying.

" **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH** " and even his loudest scream of terror was completely mute when faced with the roaring wind, blowing with an extreme amount of force. Kyle briefly wondered how wasn't he just thrown off Pidgeot's back, but he figured it had something to do with the Avian's build and overall biomechanics. Or maybe Ash's grip really was just that strong, it could be just that too.

After less than half a minute Pidgeot has began slowing down, and after a few seconds it slowed to a crawl and begun descending into a stable landing.

Kyle fell off Pidgeot's back, landing on his side and groaning loudly.  
Meanwhile, Jack walked and stood over him, casting a shadow.

"Hey, that was pretty good kid!" he had the audacity to say, Kyle actually wanted to scream at him 'I am older than you Asshole!' but didn't because he wasn't, not really.

"Well, I'm off to the Viridian Gym. Cya when I cya!" and with that, Jack scooted away.  
Just. Like. That.

A second later he could feel the wind rushing around him as the Pidgeots took flight. Good riddance.

Kyle was perfectly content just lying there and waiting for his nausea to go away, but a hand shook him and he was forced to open his eyes.

It was some middle-aged lady, and apparently he was causing a scene, since everyone in the street was looking at him.

"Dear, are you alright?"

Kyle flushed red and jumped to his feet, looking around before practically squawking and running away to the opposite direction.

Turns out, the Nearest Pokemon-Center was indeed near.  
Well, that's good.

Walking inside the large building, which wasn't very hard to find considering its size, Kyle walked up to the Nurse Joy that stood at the counter. She was smiling, that's even better honestly.

"Hello Nurse Joy, I need a little help here: Which Pokeball contains which Pokemon?" He asked, the Nurse's smile grew a tad softer as she took the Pokeballs and examined them briefly with a look alone.

"Well, there is Magikarp, Spearow, and an Elekid. That's a rare Pokemon, is this your starter?" she said, handing him his Pokeballs back. Kyle was a bit baffled by how she was able to figure not only which Pokeballs had Pokemon in them but also in which Pokeball was which Pokemon. He would have to find a solution to that problem, because they all looked and felt the same to him.

"Yes, it is."

Kyle put Elekid's Pokeball on his belt and handed Nurse Joy Magikarp's and Spearow's Pokeballs, seeing as they both were injured. The Nurse graciously accepted them.

"You are the fourth beginner trainer to walk through this center today, although the others were here less than an hour ago."

And just like that, another youth came to his side, smiling at the Good Nurse.

"Hey, Nurse Joy! Are my Pokemon okay now?" screamed a childish voice, the action made Nurse Joy giggle a little. It was a cute sound, Kyle liked it.

Oh god, will he end up like Brock?!

"Why yes, they are." Joy said, sounding amused. She then pulled a tray from under the counter, it had two Pokeballs on it which the kid took.

Kyle turned his head to look at the boy, and locked eyes with Ritchie!

Kyle's eyes widened slightly, This wasn't how this went down in the anime. By coming here sooner than Ash did, he made this encounter possible.

Guh, his head hurt.

"Hey, are you a new trainer?" Ritchie's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Kyle just smiled a little.

"Yes, all the way from Pallet. Are you too?" it was weird to him, communicating with all of those little kids like this. He wasn't sure how to act.

"Yeah! Hey, wait for a second! I didn't see you around Oak's lab!" The boy instantly grew suspicious, and it was very clear from his expression. He really was a little kid. He was also the one that took Oak's Charmander, who knew?

Kyle laughed nervously

"Yeah well, that's 'cause I was late. I overslept this morning."

"What? You overslept? today?!"

"Yeah well, I stayed awake 'till around 3 in the morning, got tired and fell asleep right then and there."

"Whoa..." They boy genuinely was in awe of the fact that he went to bed at 3 a.m the in morning. Well, Kyle did, Ash might have not. So it wasn't really a lie, was it?

"Name's Ash by the way. Wanna have a battle with me?" Because challenging each other is what trainers do, apparently.

Ritchie suddenly grew excited and smirked with some confidence.

"Well, I'm Ritchie, and I'll take you on any day!" 10-year-old trash talk, well alright then.

"I don't need any day. Right here. Right now!"

Ritchie opened his mouth, but a polite cough caused them both to turn and look at Nurse Joy. She actually raised an Eyebrow at him!

Kyle gulped.  
"Uhh, in 10 minutes, at some open random place?" He suggested.  
"Ummm, yes, that sounds... great!"

* * *

"By the way, how do you distinguish between your Pokeballs?" Kyle asked, knowing the answer already.

"Well, I just put name tags on my Pokeballs."

"Think you could give me some of those?" Ritchie actually smirked a little at that, looking a little bit smug but mostly confident.

"Sure, if you can beat me!"

The two were standing in some arena around the city. Kyle was actually surprised when Ritchie showed him the way here, saying that he found this place while exploring the city.

"Are you ready Ash?"

"Always!"

"Come on out, Zippo!" and out of the Pokeball popped Charmander. Right, Zippo. Man, it has been a long time since he watched the first season of the anime!

"Battle stance, Elekid!" That sounded really cool in his head, although it made no sense when spoken out loud.

the two Pokemon stood one before the other, Charmander was looking at the Electric-Type curiously while Elekid just examined both him and his trainer. It was its first official fight, after all!

Now, it should be known that Kyle had no experience in this type of battling, but neither did Ritchie. And Elekid seemed more powerful than Charmander so Kyle wasn't at a total loss. Besides, he had a move combination in mind already.

"Wow... I never saw a Pokemon like that before..." Ritchie said, pulling out his Pokedex to examine Elekid, something which didn't sit well with him.  
Quite hypocritical, considering he would've done the same.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Ritchie nodded and put back his Pokedex, taking a moment to think up a tactic to use but Kyle was already ahead of him.

"Thunder Shock, and don't stop!"

Elekid began shooting out Thunder Shocks, chaining them one after the other. The first one hit Charmander, but after that it began moving out of the way.

Ritchie actually didn't expect this at all. Good.

"Yeah Zippo! Keep Dodging and shoot Ember while you're at it!"

But that wouldn't do.

While moving from side to side Charmander wasn't able to aim with its fire at all. So although Elekid was stationary Charmander was still missing.

But Elekid wasn't all that accurate as well, making this a rather equal, but pathetic, exchange.

The stalemate was broken when Charmander was nailed once more by a stray Thunder Shock.

"Zippo!" The Ash Look-alike cried, but Kyle was quick to capitalize on instincts that he did not know that he possessed.

"Now Elekid, rush in with Quick Attack! Chain it with Barrier!"

"Ember!"

Charmander stood up and shot an Ember which did hit Elekid, causing it to hiss in pain, but didn't stop it. In fact, it didn't slow down Elekid at all, not limiting its momentum whatsoever. It may be true that Barrier wasn't all that effective against this kind of attack, it did limit the damage somewhat.

"Zippo, take it and use Scratch!"

Kyle actually smirked, so Ritchie didn't know what 'Barrier' could do? Good.

The Scratches passed over Elekid's barrier as though they weren't even a thing, and said barrier rammed into Charmander hard, like a massive shield-bash.

Charmander was knocked over, shaking in pain. Kyle was actually surprised at how well he was doing.  
Then again, Ritchie was a total novice, and Elekid was simply a more powerful Pokemon, so it really shouldn't be much of a surprise.

"End it with Thunder Shock!"

But Elekid wasn't ready to just finish their battle like that.  
Crushing an opponent with irresistible force Like Raichu did to Gyarados was a very appealing option, but it wouldn't help it get any stronger.

It definitely had a complex of some sort.

So, very arrogantly, Elekid waited for Charmander to get Up, surprising both trainers.  
"Come on Elekid, what are you waiting for?" Kyle shouted, but it was no use.

"Ember!"

Charmander snapped at Elekid, aiming an Ember at it.  
Elekid Easily dodged, and at that moment Kyle realized Elekid's suicidal mentality, yet he could do nothing about it at the moment.  
Charmander wasn't strong enough to prove Elekid wrong, so he will just have to finish it off, at the prize of inflating Elekid's ego a bit.

Let's see now...

Well, this could work.

"Elekid, Quick attack and punch it in the face!"

"Wait what?!"

Elekid rushed Charmander once more and nailed it in the jaw with a vicious haymaker, knocking it down and out of the fight.

Kyle sincerely smiled at this, He won his first official match! Elekid was victorious!

Ritchie however, wasn't pleased, and after checking for Zippo's state he was very quick to confront Ash, who by now has retired Elekid to its Pokeball after a few congratulations.

"Hey! What was that about?! 'Punch it' isn't a move you know!"

"Well neither is 'Keep Dodging!'"

That actually caused Ritchie to stop dead in his tracks, giving Ash a look full of contempt. Not something Kyle was expecting really.  
Then again kids are sore losers, so it did make some sense.

"Well, next time we have a match I'm going to kick your stupid butt!" And with those final words, Ritchie was off to the Pokemon Center.

Kyle chuckled and went after him, Elekid did get some mild burns from this fight.

* * *

"Hello, this is the Ketchum residence!"

"Hey mom," Kyle said, smiling awkwardly.

He could hear her squeal in delight before she activated web camera. Delia Ketchum's face appeared on the monitor, looking very happy.

"Oh hey honey! Is everything okay? Where are you Ash?"

"The Pokemon-Center in Viridian City."

"You're already in Viridian City?" She asked, sounding impressed "It took your father four days to get there when he started Pokemon training and you're there at noon! Oh, he will be so proud. You're the apple of his eye!"

Kyle could see her tearing up a bit. Man, this was really hard for him!

"Yeah, heh, apple..." He chuckled "Anyway mom! I won my first official Pokemon Match, against one other kid that started his journey today!"

Delia smiled proudly at that.

"Well of course you did, dear. I know you can do anything you set your mind to!"

This amount of encouragement was foreign to him, he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"Goodbye son, don't hesitate to call whenever. Love you."

A certain thickness was pushing down his throat.

"you too..."

and with that, she hung up.

Kyle sighed loudly and looked at the ceiling, how did he even get into this mess anyway?  
Shaking his head, the faker could only sigh - He took her son away from her, the least he could do was to make sure that Ash's body was safe.

 ***Ring Ring Ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring Ring Ring! Phone call! Phone call!***

God, that was so obnoxious.

Walking up to the desk, Kyle activated to Video call, something which caused one random picture on the wall to move aside, and reveal Professor Oak's... back?

"Ugh, who're you?"

"Ash, its Professor Oak! Don't you recognize me?"

"Well, I might have if I wasn't looking at your back" Kyle quipped. Oak pressed a few buttons and after a moment Kyle could see his abashed face.

"Well, I just spoke with your mother and she told me that you already made it to Viridian City, is that true?"

"Well, you called here, so you tell me." Oak's awkwardness, +1.

He was quick to recover though.  
"Yes, well, when you left I admit I had my doubts about your ability to handle Elekid, but I decided to believe in you anyway! So when my grandson Gary told me that you wouldn't capture a single Pokemon by the time you got to Viridian, I bet him a million Dollars that he was wrong!" He said, Laughing hopefully.

Kyle actually smirked at this

"Well Professor, get ready to claim your prize because I did catch some Pokemon! A Magikarp and a Spearow!"

To his surprise, Oak looked a little worried.

"A Spearow Ash? are you sure you can handle it? Those are some very difficult Pokemon, especially for beginners like yourself."

Kyle shrugged

"We will see." was the only thing he could say

"Well Ash, it was nice talking to you! Feel free to call whenever!"

Huh, doesn't that sound similar?

Oak hung up the phone as well.

And with that Kyle stood up and walked outside the Pokemon Center, after a minute he stopped and turned around.

Looking back at the Pokemon Center, Kyle was deep in thought.  
His Pokemon were healed - He could just walk away, knowing full well that the place will soon enough be attacked by Team Rocket.  
Even if he chose that option then the Rocket Trio won't actively chase him down, and he will be free to do whatever without them getting in the way.

On the other hand, he couldn't just leave this place knowing what comes next, he couldn't afford not to care.

Suddenly, a certain warmth passed over his upper back. Looking up he saw a certain Legendary Bird flying over. No one else seemed to have seen it.

And this was all he needed. Kyle wasn't here by some chance or a twist of fate. He was here because he needed to be here, he could make a difference.

No, he **MUST** make a difference.

Kyle smirked, he knew what to do now.

* * *

"Hey, what about those stickers we talked about?"  
"Uh, oh, you were actually serious about that?"

"Heck yeah I was! I had to put all of my Pokemons in different Pockets to not mess them up!"

Ritchie actually burst out laughing at this. Suffice to say, that didn't help Kyle's disgruntled expression one bit.  
In fact, he just grew even sulkier.

Honestly, it wasn't hard to catch up to Ritchie.  
All it took was for Kyle to simply stand in front of the Pokemon Center and wait for the boy in question to come out, which he eventually did.

After some banter, Ritchie handed over some of his stickers and a marker. Kyle thanked him properly before sticking the stickers onto his Pokeballs and writing the Pokemon names on them, he then added them back to his belt with some satisfaction that caused Ritchie to chuckle.

"So, you're up for a walk to Pewter together?" he invited easily.  
Kyle, however, declined and shook his head "Nah. I dunno about you, but getting here sure took a toll on me. Frankly, I'm going to sleep off most of the effects but still."

Ritchie nodded in agreement before giving Kyle a challenging look "Yeah well, you should get more used to hitting the road, you are a trainer after all! No more late nights for you!"

Yeah that's right, he was a trainer now, wasn't he?

Dang.

"Well, I will soon enough. Until next time Ritchie!" and with that, he extended his hand for a handshake, a gesture that was a little odd to the other 10-year-old but he was quick to return it in kind, shaking Kyle's hand firmly.

"Yeah! Next time we meet Ash I'm going to win!"

Unknowingly to Kyle at the time, he had ignited a great flame of change in the youthful Ash-look-a-like. Once they meet again, Ritchie was to be a far more formidable foe than he himself could have ever imagined.

Of course being oblivious to that, Kyle simply smiled with some mischievousness and retorted "Yeah as if, you wannabe!"  
"Wannabe?"

"Oh please, you wish you were this cool!"  
"I do not!"  
"Are too!"  
"Na-ha!"  
"Ya-ha!"

Stupid little kids, the both of them.

* * *

Getting Spearow to listen to him was a fairly easy task. Kyle just assumed that he was yet another Jerk pride Pokemon with Its nose (Or beak, perhaps) up in the air, uncaring.

Yet that didn't seem to be the case.  
Spearow was surprisingly cooperative, apparently choosing to stand down and yield due to the fact that Elekid defeated it so easily, although with some very minor help from Kyle and Ash's Sniper-precise Rock-throws.

That aside, what **did** he know about Jessie and James from their very first appearance? He was going to encounter them today and he felt as though he should be prepared.

Not much, really, they just came in, Ash fumbled around, and Pikachu blasted them off again. For the first time too. Heh.

That made it all the more easy to him, he just had to capture them. That shouldn't be too hard.  
Heck, trainers caught things all of the time! He really wasn't even going out of his comfort zone, was he? Yeah, he wasn't!

So when Kyle heard the alarm blazing he wasn't surprised in the slightest.  
He was, however, surprised by the fact that the two Pokeballs that fell from the ceiling glass revealed Ekans and Koffing.  
He actually kinda forgot about them, not to mention the fact that they evolved during the series, not beforehand.

Regardless, Kyle was more than ready.

"Now Elekid, Thunder Shock!"

Elekid shot a Thunder Shock, just when Koffing used its Smog.  
There was a reaction between the electricity and the Smog attack, causing the filthy gases to explode, damaging the walls and throwing both Koffing and Ekans back.  
Nurse Joy gasped in shock before coming over next to Kyle and just standing there, probably for moral support or something.

Kyle could hear rather loud coughing sounds, and out of the smoke and debris came Jessie and James.  
He was willing to bet anything he just ruined their dramatic entrance.  
Kyle, having a flair for dramatics, actually felt a bit bad about that, but soon was pulled out of his thoughts when Jessie actually snapped at him "What the Heck?! Who are you, twerp?!"

"Who am I? Who are you?!" was his only retort.

and just like that, Jessie and James turned from silly to menacing.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!" She said and clenched her fist

"James!" He said, pulling a random rose to his nose for the effect.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Suddenly, a Meowth fell from the roof.

"Meowth, that's right!"

Joy just gaped at them, and Kyle nearly chuckled.  
When he was a kid he thought that it was a cool entrance, but when he actually heard it as a teen and thought about the actual words, it sounded kind of... silly, actually.  
Way too long of an exposition to what amounted to a robbery

Instead, Kyle eyed Meowth with some interest, a certain thought coursing through his mind and causing him to smile in an unnerving manner, not that Anyone noticed, oddly enough.

"Mhm, you don't say..." He mumbled, "What are you guys after?"

enlarging a Pokeball and throwing it at the ground, Kyle pulled Spearow out into the fight.  
The small bird cried in defiance and glared at the trio, Meowth actually gave it a cocky look-over.

"He just doesn't get it" Jessie snarled.

"We are here for the Pokemon"

Kyle twitched a little, Elekid popped its knuckles and gave them an evil eye.

"You guys are starting to bug me..."

Joy gave him a startled look and the trio chuckled.

"Oh, isn't that cute?"

"The twerp is bugged."

"Meowth! let's squash 'em!"

Ekans and Koffing charged, only to be met with one of Elekids Barriers and be knocked back by two Quick Attacks From the bird and the Electric-Type.  
Kyle decided to press on the offense.

"Nurse Joy, stand back! I will take care of this!" he shouted, to which she nodded and ran off "Elekid, Thunder Shock! Spearow, fly high and use Focus Energy!"

Elekid shot a Thunder Shock, however both of the Pokemon easily dodged it.  
Ekans quickly closed on Elekid and got it in a hold with its tail and bit Elekid's head, causing the Electric Type to cringe in pain.

Koffing Chased Spearow into the sky, Causing Kyle to smirk a little.  
although the scenario as a whole wasn't expected - Jessie and James were supposed to be weaklings, even more so than a beginner-Ash

Oh well.

"Elekid, Thunder Shock until its grip gets lose, then use Barrier to push it off of you! Spearow, come down and hard with Quick Attack and Fury Attack combo!"

A series of Thunder-Shocks hit Ekans full force, and slowly but surely its grip has begun to break, allowing Elekid to use Barrier and break its grasp. Out of sheer spite, Elekid then punched it, grabbed its tail, and hurled it in the opposite direction.

'Well, that works,' Kyle thought.  
At least until a hail of Poison Stings hit Elekid as well.

Meanwhile, Spearow came down at Koffing. Dodging the Poison Gas Pokemon and its sluggish ascension using Quick Attack, Spearow nailed it from the side With a Fury Attack with its beak, Koffing winced before turning to Spearow and aiming a wave of Sludge, which missed, before attempting to tag the Tiny Bird.

Kyle's eyes narrowed, this isn't going according to plan. Well,  
It's high-time for him to pull an Ash-en move (really?) and just use an Off-the-scale kind of tactic.

"Elekid! Thunder Shock at the lights!"

The wave of electricity caused the light bulbs to explode, causing the room as a whole to darken.  
Elekid used the distraction to hit Ekans once more with a Thunder Shock.

Kyle actually did put a lot of thought in Spearow's plan of attack beforehand. Fully exploiting Spearow's ability 'Sniper', Using multiple weak but fast attack, which meant that there was more of a chance for at least some of them to be Critical hits.  
And indeed, the marks of fatigue and pain were starting to show on Koffing, making it slow down.  
It seemed that victory was finally at hand!

Jessie, however, wasn't having any of this.

"Enough of this! Ekans, use Mud Bomb!"

Wait what?!

"Barrier!" Came an automatic response, far more intuitively than Kyle thought possible.

Ekans opened its mouth wide and shot out many balls of mud. The High-speed dirt projectiles hit Elekid with terrible force, damaging it greatly even though it had a Barrier put up.  
Eventually, the Barrier broke, allowing the dirt to slam at Elekid directly, sending him back into the wall, cracking it!

"Koffing, Gyro ball!" And the good news just kept coming!

Koffing began spinning with great force, deflecting Spearow's Fury Attacks before slamming directly into it, sending it down to the ground.

Jessie and James just laughed, Meowth chuckled as well.

Elekid pulled itself back with some effort and by that time Spearow was back in the air as well.

Kyle couldn't believe it - he was getting beat by Team Frickin' Rocket! The butt-Monkies of the Poke-verse!  
Clenching his teeth, Kyle started contemplating his next move.

Suddenly, an extremely cheap tactic came to mind. "Elekid, use Thunder Shock on Meowth!"

Jessie's and James's eyes barely managed to widen before Meowth was nailed with a Thunder Shock, causing it to spasm in pain.

Kyle took a deep breath. He was supposed to be the big hero of the story, and yet...

"Once again Elekid! full force!"

Elekid did not have such inner struggles, and it shot another Thunder Shock directly at Meowth, hitting it with high accuracy. Meowth fell over.

By now Jessie and James snapped into action.

"You little brat!" the purplenette screamed in rage "Ekans, Mud Bomb! Mud Bomb them all!"

"Spearow, Quick Attack on Ekans! Focus Energy and Peck its eyes!"

"Koffing, use Gyro Ball!"

"Elekid, Catch it with Barrier and Thunder Shock!"

God, Kyle felt like such a loser, being pushed to the corner like that - was that truly who he was?

Ekans opened its mouth, but in a sudden burst of speed it was nailed in the head by the Tiny Bird, Koffing immediately started spinning, but before it could get anywhere near Spearow Elekid got in its way and caught it in a force field and its grip. Koffing was slowing down, slowly yet surely.

Spearow meanwhile rose in the air a bit, focusing its Energy, making its eyes grow sharper. Pinpointing Eknas's eyes as a weak spot it came down, dodging the snake's tail with a Quick Attack before pecking its eyes, scoring massive and critical damage on the snake.

With a burst of Fury Attacks Ekans was down.

Meanwhile, Koffing nearly came to a halt.  
It tried to shoot Sludge at Elekid, yet it was far too dizzy for that. When Koffing did stop its face was turned away from Elekid, and before he knew it Koffing was hit with a series of Thunder Shocks, slammed into the ground, and was Thunder Shocked some more.

Elekid let go of it, but only when Koffing was out like light.

Kyle meanwhile assessed the situation.  
Spearow's feathers looked far to ruffled and were bent in some random directions. There were some marks of combat. Elekid himself didn't look great, with clauses and bruises all over its body.

Yet the worst news came when Kyle noticed dark bags under their eyes. Suddenly, Spearow fell over, succumbing, and Elekid dropped to one knee, panting.

What was going...?

Kyle gasped. The poison!  
Both of his Pokemons were Poisoned! Oh, this is was so beyond bad! Kyle began sweating, he didn't know what he could do anymore - His Pokemon were down and out, and both Ekans and Koffing were starting to move again.

The situation got even scarier when James's eyes narrowed with some hate and he drew a second Pokeball out of his pocket.  
Oh god no, this was so not supposed to go down that way!

And then...

"Staryu, Use water gun!"

Salvation arrived in the form of a preadolescent girl, Misty!

Arriving just in the nick of time, Misty ordered Staryu to act; And it did.

The Water Gun blasted the Pokeball out of James's arm. In sheer desperation, Kyle realized that this was the final push.

"Elekid, Thunder Shock Ekans and Koffing, Max power!" He practically screeched and charged forward towards Jessie and James.  
With a final chaotic wave of Electricity Elekid was out of the fight, taking down Ekans and Koffing with him.

Ash may have been a 10-year-old, but he was an utter beast. Misty, Joy, and the recently arrived officers, led by Officer Jenny, all openly gaped when Ash Ketchum slammed into James with his shoulder, knocking the much larger adult off his feet and sending him down to the ground with great force.

Upon connecting with the floor James's breath was ripped out of his lungs and he was sent rolling back a few good feet, his Pokeball got knocked out of his hand in the process.

Kyle turned to Jessie and glared at her as fiercely as he could.  
She seemed to be startled by the fact that a child was threatening to physically harm her, and was actually willing to go through with that. Good.

Jessie looked at the situation, they were out-numbered and out-matched. This was the time to pull back.

So, pulling out a smoke bomb (The classics!) Jessie dropped it to the ground, and picked up James. The spectators were distracted at the moment due to the smoke and were not able to react. Kyle, however, was.

He couldn't let this end like that!  
If they were to run away they would come back after him, for sure! Kyle alone wasn't able to beat them, even when resorting to extreme tactics, having the element of surprise, and having Misty to help him out. Not to mention the fact that they only pulled back after the odds were tilted against their favor, and not by his doing.

The Meowth shaped air balloon has begun gaining height. Jessie and James were holding onto a rope that was hanging from the air balloon. James was holding Meowth's unconscious form, and they both were giving him a certain look.

Kyle needed to change this, he needed something to give him the upper hand!

His blood began pumping in his ears and without thinking he pulled a Pokeball from his belt and threw it upwards.

The duo's eyes widened in shock when they saw the Pokeball hit Meowth, sucking him out of James's grasp, before falling back to the ground.

Of all the idiotic and impulsive things Kyle has ever done, this was one of the dumbest ones. What was he thinking, capturing Meowth like that?!  
No, he knew exactly what he was thinking - He was going to take Meowth as a hostage, to secure at least some leverage against the Rocket Duo at the risk of pissing off Team Rocket even more.

So when the Pokeball stopped moving, indicating a successful capture, Kyle could only feel dread and soul-crushing regret.

This was how he could turn this around - he had a trump card against Jessie and James, and was more than willing to use it should the need arise.

he practically ran to the Pokeball and grabbed it, quickly pulling it back to his belt.  
It was a good thing that the smoke was yet to disperse, the maneuver was very quick and he doubted anyone caught onto him.

He turned around, finally able to actually see, and looked over the police officers, Misty and Nurse Joy.

feeling his heart slamming into his ribcage, Kyle could only force a chuckle and rub the side of his head with great tension.

"Well, ugh, that was a thing. Heh."

Blinking the surprise away, Misty stomped her way to him to him.  
Getting in his face, she began screaming.

"You idiot, what were you thinking?! You're a beginner! A total newbie like you should be prancing around every Rattata in Road 2! Leave this sort of stuff to the trained professionals!" She then hit him up top his head. Well, he kinda deserved it.

Officer Jenny walked to his side and gave him a reprimanding glare "That's right young man, when you heard the alarm you should have attempted to find a secure location."

Despite himself Kyle huffed at that.

"Yeah right, where were the 'trained Professionals this entire time?! If I wasn't here, those Pokemon would have been gone for good! And all I get from you is a load of shi-..."

"That's enough young man!" the pretty officer snapped at him "Due to your assistance in the matter we will overlook this scene as a whole. Next time you decide to get involved make sure that you and your Pokemon are capable. It is your job as a Pokemon trainer after all."

"Bu-..." Kyle felt like arguing, but the officer was having none of that.

"Not. Another. Word!"

Looking over his Pokemon, watching them lay on the ground like that, ragged and tattered, moaning in pain from the Poison, filled him with both great shame and immense rage.

Sure, their state was his fault, but how could this idiot woman just disregard all of his assistance based on reasoning like 'you got your behind whipped.'

He hated the fact that she dismissed him so easily, like everything he has been through in the past ten minutes amounted to nothing.

Jenny simply turned on her hill and began walking away, Kyle opened his mouth to retort and curse the daft woman, but a hand on his shoulder courtesy of Misty stopped him dead in his tracks.

Pulling Elekid and Spearow back into their Pokeballs, Kyle sighed. Now that the adrenalin left his body he fell on his butt, panting and sweating. He felt like he was going to vomit right then and there.  
Joy noticed this apparently, she walked back to him and began rubbing his back in circular motions, whispering encouraging words in his ear.

* * *

"URGHRUHGAAAHAHA"

Kyle actually stumbled because of that scream.

"What, what's the matter?"

"Look over there!" Misty answered, pointing to a tree.  
When he looked Kyle saw a very specific Caterpie, and could only sigh.

After a good night of sleep and rest, alongside having Elekid and Spearrow healed, Kyle walked up to Misty and asked her if she wanted to travel together. She agreed without any hesitation, which was good.

Truth be told, Kyle didn't like her all that much, but she was a more experienced trainer than he was.  
If nothing else, she could protect him should James and Jessie come back.

God even in his own head that sounded so pathetic and sad it made him want to cry a little.  
He hated himself for manipulating a little girl to his own ends, but he needed her to be there with him.

Even if it meant enduring her troublesome quircks.

Now, for the matter at hand.

Caterpie would grow into Butterfree, the same Pokemon that left Ash for some shiny pink female Butterfree.  
Kyle wasn't ready for that kind of attachment, to grow closer to one of his Pokemon, his friends, only for said Pokemon to leave him for whatever reason?  
Could he still catch the little worm Pokemon to ensure that it will be happy one day with its mate, not with him? C  
ould Kyle do something like that, despite how Butterfree's departure would make him feel?

No, no he couldn't.

Feeling the guilt crawling up his back, Kyle took a deep, shaky, breath and turned away from Caterpie, who tilted its head adorably at him.

Besides, if Misty would get mad she might leave him, and then he will be alone again. Can't have that.

"Just keep walking Misty, nothing is going to happen."

and just like that, the two trainers were off again, leaving the little worm Pokemon behind.

* * *

And... done!

Now, this chapter was meant to be more revealing of Kyle's personality, as well as giving the readers a measure of how strong Pokemon get and how weak is Kyle in comparison.

Kyle wants to be a hero, but he has the mentality of a combat pragmatist, meaning that he will do anything to ensure victory, as you all saw when he used some of his tactics against Jessie and James.

I mean common! He Flippin' TACKLED James to the ground and was about to take a few swings at Jessie as well, not to mention all of those cheap shots, particularly against Meowth.  
He also left Caterpie behind because he didn't want make Misty angry at him for whatever reason.

He who brings a gun to a sword fight may be a heathen, but he who brings a sword to a gun fight a moron. That's the type of mentality that Kyle has.

 **Kyle's encounter with Jack**

I should clarify that Jack is not, in fact, an OC.

A character by the name of Jack Walker did appear in "Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea" and just so happened to be native to the Kanto region.  
Also, my whole explanation about the water runoff and anything is at least somewhat geographically correct, seeing that Pallet town is located very close to a mountain.

 **Encounter with Ritchie**

Kyle needs to have powerful rivals, and it wouldn't do him any good to match against Ritchie who uses a Pikachu, a Butterfree and a Charmander as his three main Pokemon.

Plus, we all saw how powerful some Pokemon are - Canon!Ritchie wouldn't make it to the league, not even close.  
As such, I thought to have an encounter between the two of them - Ritchie will grow to become much more powerful after getting such a wake-up call from another beginner.

Also, establishing a rivalry early on seemed like the right thing to do

 **Jessie and James**

This isn't a joke or a mistake.  
Jessie and James are trained Rocket field agents - they are above the nameless grunts, but are still unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

It should be noted that they aren't pushovers, either.  
They got proper training, and although they are very fresh they are still far ahead of Kyle in terms of Experience, skill, and Pokemons.

Kyle was only able to match them due to planning the encounter beforehand and using a variety of guerrilla tactics

 **Capturing Meowth**

Bet you didn't expect that, did you now?

Kyle captured Meowth and plans to use him as a hostage against Jessie and James.

On one hand, this ensures that they will come after him, but on the other hand, it gives him another chance, as well as an advantage, to use in order to put them down for good.

Plus, having a talking Pokemon is just awesome!

 **Pokemon List:**

 **1) Elekid  
** Ability: Static  
Moves: Quick Attack, Thunder Shock, Barrier, Leer.

 **2) Spearow  
** Ability: Sniper  
Moves: Peck, Quick Attack, Fury Attack, Focus Energy.

 **3) Magikarp  
** Ability: Swift Swim  
Moves: Splash.

 **4) Meowth  
?**

So there you have it!

Hopefully, after this chapter Ash will finally arrive at Pewter City! I have been meaning to ask by the way, is the Pacing of the story too slow by any chance?

Until next time!


	3. The Key And The Cat

**Proxenx** : I liked how you had Kyle do something himself in this fight. I always hated how trainers do nothing in any of the fights in the series.

 **Answer** : It actually makes perfect sense in more than one way. Kyle is a coward, and because of that he is extremely desperate and careful. No tactic is too underhanded, no shot is too cheap. Survival is far too important for him to play according to some imaginary rules.  
That's his line of thought, glad to see you agree with it.

 **renegadestarforce** : The pacing is fine though it brings to mind how long is the story going to be? I don't mind the pacing myself since you use it well but some people might not be as accepting.

 **Answer** : Well, for now, I'll just stick to Kanto. Afterwards, I might take a break or something. But I am totally finishing this story. Hopefully hahaha.

 **HeartlessNobody13** : Howcanonn is the World Kyle was dropped into?

 **Answer** : Mostly canon, however there have been some changes as you noticed. For example, I find it hard to believe that James and Jessie, basically two trained field agents, could get beaten by a beginner; So I changed that. As the story progresses you will notice some more additions and changes to the original story of the anime.

 **anon** : Kyle is a bit over-dramatic.

 **Answer** : Yeah, he kinda is. But then again, cowards do tend to survive longer than the brave and foolish, no?

 **SceptileDragon22** : Ship Kyle/Serena.

 **Answer** : Kyle is 17, and I don't really do Romance well. Even if I were to ship anything, It's going to take a while for those girls to mature before Kyle takes any interest in them.  
Girls his chronological age aren't going to be interested in him and Kyle isn't into 10-year-olds.

 **geusty** : Will you have Spearow learn Sand Attack and Steel Wing? Will Elekid Learn Karate Chop? Will Misty help out?

 **Answer** : They will learn some of those moves before taking on Brock and Kyle will definitely use Misty as leverage to learn different moves. She still has her bike, so they are cool. For now.

 **Lloryn** : Didn't like how you left Catepie behind, I get you reasoning but there must have been another way.

 **Answer** : Well, there might have been - but I am not feeling like pulling something out of nowhere.  
The fact is that either Kyle takes Butterfree and keeps him, and then he basically denies Butterfree his happiness or lets him go after spending many hours training him.  
Frankly, I don't think that Kyle would bother with one Stinkin' Caterpie - If he wanted one then he would've gotten it already.

 **Guest(s)** : What happened to Ash?

 **Answer** : That's up for debate believe it or not. I thought about having a 'Ghost Ash' following Kyle around, but I'm not too sure. As is, Ash's psyche has been forcefully pushed aside. To where? Meh, I'll figure something out.

 **heavansick** : 1) Will Kyle have his own unique rival? 2) Will you go for the travel-adventure route alone? 3) Magbey, Ghastly, Rhydon, Horsea and Dartini - Will Kyle catch any of them?

 **Answer(s)** : 1) That remains to be seen. 2) Some parts of the story are going to have Kyle settle down for a while and do some other stuff, particularly after he gets all of his badges. 3) One of these is actually a lock and is going to be a member of Kyle's team, I have been considering all of these honestly.

 **Ero-Hanyo** : Is the Pokeball going to change Meowth? Will Kyle use him as a translator for hire?

 **Answer** : Not really, but his personality will shift as time goes by, character development and all that. Kyle, for now, is going to keep Meowth's abilities a secret. Partly because he doesn't want the entire organization on his back.

And with our questions out of the way, let us start our longest chapter yet!

* * *

 **Pidgeotto, an evolved form of the Pidgey. It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be dangerous. Approach with extreme caution.**

Well, that was unhelpful, and Kyle wasn't about to read the entire Info on the bird either.  
The fully Pokedex page on Pidgeotto was very extensive, and by the time he'd get the gist of it the bird would've already made its escape.

We can't have that!

His first night in the woods was an easy one, and thankfully there weren't any Bugs involved.

Seriously, Misty really could be an annoyance, particularly when it came down to dealing with Bug-Types.  
To be fair though, Kyle wasn't behaving like he normally would've - it seemed as though ever since he got into the Pokemon world his eyes have been desensitized to some of its... 'wonders'.

Including Bug-Types and other creepy Pokemons.

After a night in the wild a certain bird chose to make itself known.  
Kyle was actually thinking about Pidgeotto just the other night and decided to catch the bird.  
After all, Pidgeotto only left due to Fearow and seeing as Spearow was his Pokemon now... Yeah.

Speaking of which...

"Alright Spearow!" Kyle shouted, letting the tiny bird out "You up for a fight?!"

Spearow shrieked in fury, eyes locking onto the larger bird before him.  
Pidgeotto did not take well to that and glared at both Kyle and Spearow with its sharp, unnerving eyes.

Both birds took to the air simultaneously.  
Spearow charged with a Quick Attack, which Pidgeotto blocked with both its wings, pushing Spearow back with only some minor effort.

The tiny bird regained its balance mid-air but Pidgeotto already slammed into it, sending it down towards the ground.

"Focus Energy! Close in with Quick Attack and Peck!"

Using Focus Energy once more, Spearow began utilizing his ability even more effectively, pinpointing Pidgeotto's weaknesses and quickly closed in on it.  
Pidgeotto charged down with some speed, but Spearow quickly outmaneuvered it and landed a critical blow at its neck, causing Pidgeotto to flinch.  
Spearow, however, was not done, he has begun slamming Pidgeotto with its Fury Attack, beating down the larger bird.

Pidgeotto attempted to fight back using Gust, but the moment it removed its wings from its torso to strike Spearow has already targeted Pidgeotto's exposed front with all of its might. 'Sniper' was dead useful.

Sooner before later, Pidgeotto was driven all the way to the ground, and a Quick Attack-Boosted Peck was enough to finish the fight for good.

"Pokeball, go!" Kyle shouted energetically, throwing and successfully hitting Pidgeotto with a Pokeball. A moment later his capture was confirmed when the Pokeball stopped moving.

"Alright I got a Pidgeotto!" he shouted and then cringed a little at his own behavior.  
It was a minor thing, however, since the prospect of his first real capture seemed too cool at the moment.

Sure, he caught other Pokemons, but none of them really were 'traditional' captures.

Spearow got creamed by Elekid, Magikarp didn't really put up any fight and Meowth was captured due to a multitude of cheap shots and nothing else.

This, however, was his first fight (and victory!) against a wild Pokemon!

Spearow gave him a cold look before huffing, seemingly displeased at something..

Kyle did notice that and had an idea as to what this is about.  
He turned to Spearow with a proposition "Hey, you are plenty strong! Wouldn't it help you out to have a rival to measure yourself up against?"

After thinking about it Spearow nodded, somewhat appeased for the time being.

"Well Ash, maybe you aren't as bad a trainer as you seem!" he heard Misty exclaim, he somehow forgot about her "But there's still a long way to go before you are a Pokemon master, like a million years!"

honestly, Kyle was getting fed up with this "Well yeah, I just started yesterday" he retorted.

At this, Misty seemed to blink a bit before slowly nodding. "That's true I guess, and you seem to have pretty good judgement about your Pokemon too. That's the most important quality that a trainer can have."

Kyle smiled a little at her. Suddenly, loud and theatrical laughter could be heard in the distance. Both children turned to look at the source of it.

"Oh, so we meet again!"Kyle actually shivered a bit at that, he knew that voice!

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a strong gust of wind blew, blasting sand and dirt all over. When it finally settled down Kyle could make two very familiar figures standing pretty close by.

"To protect the world from devastation"

"To unite all people within our nation"

"To denounce the evil of truth and love"

"To extend our reach to the stars above"

Oh god, they've come for their stupid Meowth! Then again, maybe this was his chance to act after all, while they were distracted doing those silly poses.

"Spearow, Use Quick Attack!" Kyle shouted suddenly, interrupting the duo's motto, before Pulling out a Pokeball and unleashing Elekid into the fray.

by the time he has done that, Spearow already charged at Jessie and James, with them barely dodging its attack.

"What in the world, twerp?!" Jessie screamed in anger.  
Misty gave him a shocked look but Kyle didn't really have time for her shock, only for Elekid's.

"Elekid, use Thunder Shock!" By then, Jessie and James pulled out Ekans and Koffing, only for them to be hit by Elekid's Thunder Shock.

"Hey Misty, I could use a little help here!" Kyle shouted, Misty gave him a perplexed look. That look on her face made Kyle want to hit her. Badly.

Ekans Opened its mouth, probably to attack, but was nailed from behind by the accelerating bird and was forced to stop dead in its tracks.

Koffing, meanwhile, was sending waves of sludge at Elekid, but the Electric-type was handling them easily, dodging from some to side. Judging from the duo's smirks they were playing him for a fool.

well...

"You are the one that always talks about how bad a trainer I am, so show me what you got for a change!" he quickly goaded

The little redhead seemed irked at his comment and called her Starmie out as if to prove a point.

Jessie and James appeared surprised by this turn of events, Starmies were rare and powerful Pokemon.

"Alright Ash! Let me show you how it's done! Starmie, use Psychic on Koffing!"

A cyan tint covered Starmie and Koffing and a moment later the Poison-Gas Pokemon was slammed into the ground repeatedly before being thrown away into the bushes like yesterday's garbage. James actually gasped and ran over to look for it, it really was thrown **that** far away.

"Psychic-Types are strong against Poison-Types! You guys should know better!" she Jeered "Alright Starmie, let's show Ash what's it all about! Use Thunderbolt!"

Starmie's jewel core began generating electricity. Said electricity passed through its body and was released out of Starmie's upper arm.

the bolt of lightning was Yellow, blinding and rather loud. It was also remarkably fast, hitting Ekans in a blink of an eye.  
The Snake-Pokemon screeched in pain and fell over, unconscious.

"And **this** , is how you do it!" Misty exclaimed triumphantly.

Everyone present was absolutely stunned, Humans and Pokemons alike.  
Jessie and James actually looked scared, Spearow and Elekid looked awed, and Kyle... Well, he was just happy that Misty turned out to be that strong.

Sure, Starmie got nothing on the monster-slaying warrior-god that was Jack's Raichu, but it was far more formidable than Kyle could've ever imagined.  
In retrospect, maybe this was the reason that Misty wasn't as stupefied as he was when they were rescued from that Gyarados.

"...We were defeated..."

"...by a little girl..."

Huh, when did James get back here anyway?

Misty just smirked at them, looking very smug. Jessie looked irritated.

"Well, you've won this round! Next time won't be this easy!"

The duo turned on their heel and ran away in a cloud of dust. 'That was pretty fast actually. Maybe Ash wasn't the only Superhuman around here after all? Nah'

whistling, Kyle gave Misty an appreciative look.

"You weren't lying about being strong!" he said  
At this Misty puffed out her chest "Well of course! I aim to be the greatest Water-Type specialist in the world!"

With that encounter out of the way, Misty returned her Starmie and got back up on her bicycle (seriously, nothing has happened to the darn thing yet! It's a miracle!) before motioning Kyle to follow her, which he did without a second thought.

Kyle had to wonder briefly about how annoying it must be for her to ride this slowly on her bike for so long, but for some reason she still did just that.  
Knowing how impatient she was, this was not the kind of behavior he would expect from Misty.

Then again, maybe she just enjoyed ridiculing him that much.

* * *

"I think I see another bug! Gross!"

This time she actually climbed up a tree and screeched at him for there.  
For such a competent trainer, Misty sure as heck could be really pathetic from time to time.

"Oh what is it now?" Kyle mumbled, irritated, before turning around and locking eyes with a Weedle. a smirk crawled up his face.

"Alright Misty! Have no fear, Ash is here! I'm going to catch it!"

"That's exactly what I'm worried about!"

Stupid jerk...

with that being said, Kyle grabbed a Pokeball and threw it, calling out his newly captured Pidgeotto to its first battle.  
According to the Pokedex it was actually a female Pidgeotto. Kyle really wasn't expecting that one.

The bird of prey shrieked in challenge and took to the air. This is going to be a breeze!

And indeed a breeze it was

"Gust!"

Pidgeotto flapped its wings forcefully, and a large gust of wind hit the little worm, sending it up in the air.  
With a single Quick Attack, Pidgeotto slammed into the worm sending it flying into a tree.

Weedle collided with the tree, impaling it with its stinger. As far as Kyle could tell it was out cold.

Kyle noticed that although larger and more powerful, Pidgeotto lacked the same precision that Spearow had. Then again, Spearow's high level of accuracy came from its ability.

'Keen Eye' simply didn't work the same way, regardless of what the name might suggest.

"Greetings, am I addressing the Pokemon trainer who comes from Pallet?" A random voice called out.

What the? Oh, it's that guy.

"Hold that thought." Kyle threw a Pokeball at Weedle, capturing it after some brief struggle. He then Quickly scanned the Pokeball and found that this Weedle was a male and knew Poison Sting, String Shot and Bug Bite.

He was taken aback by the fact the Weedle knew Bug Bite, but no in a bad way.  
It didn't really have a mouth to bite with, but then again it'd need something to shoot its String Shot from.

Turning back to Samurai he noticed that Misty was giving the boy a very odd look "Mm, yeah that's me. What gives?"

Samurai smirked.

The ridiculous boy then drew his katana in one swift motion, pointing it at our hero "I have found you at last!"

Kyle stepped back cautiously "Ugh, who are you?"

The boy retracted his sword and bent it a bit, showing that it was fake. Kyle and Misty could only deadpan at that.

"I am Samurai! I am also shrewd, fearless and completely invincible in combat!" he boasted, sheathing his sword "I have been searching the forest for you, oh trainer of Pallet!"

Kyle blinked, the guy's voice was odd enough, but his speech patterns were just plain stupid.

"And, um, what do you want from me?"

Smirking slightly, Samurai pulled a Pokeball out of nowhere and pointed it at Kyle.

"A Pokemon battle! Let us see who triumphs!"

Giving Misty a pleading look, and receiving a 'you're-on-your-own' look in return, Kyle decided to just take on that stupid-looking kid.  
He wasn't all that confident about his ability, and although from what he could recall Samurai was a joke, the same could be said about Jessie and James.

Carefully pulling out a Pokeball, Kyle enlarged the orb and looked back at Samurai with some determination.

"I accept your challenge, Samurai! Let me show you what Pokemon battles are all about!" Misty actually snickered at that, Kyle gritted his teeth.

"Battle Cry, Elekid!" and Elekid came forth, glaring menacingly at Samurai.

"Pinsir, assume battle mode!" cried Samurai, unleashing his Pinsir. God, that thing was scary.

But 'assume battle mode? Pfff! that sounded way lame! Kyle's one-liner was way cooler!

"You two are the world's biggest dorks!" Godamnit Misty!

"Ush, oh shrieking maiden, less you call upon a horde of Beedrills!" Samurai exclaimed theatrically. Misty twitched in anger, came over, and slapped him on the head, causing his helmet to fall over his eyes and cover them, much to his dismay.

"Curses! My helmet foils me yet again!" Yet again? Was this a recurring theme of his costume?

Pulling his helmet back, eventually, both looked at each other dead in the eye. Kyle broke the stalemate.

"Thuner Shock!"

And just like that, Pinsir was hit directly by the electric shock, cringing in pain.  
Good, Kyle was right about Samurai's Pinsir - as long as he kept his distance the bug couldn't do a thing.

"Pinsir, push onward my friend!" The Stag Beetle Pokemon started charging at Elekid blindly through the constant assault, but it was all in vain.

By the time Pinsir got to Elekid it was heavily injured as is.  
The bug attempted to crush Elekid with its pincers but a quick use of Barrier ruled out that possibility.

One Thunder Shock and Pinsir dropped like a sack of bricks, defeated.

Samurai gritted his teeth in frustration.

"You filthy coward! Try this on for size!" Quickly returning his unconscious Pinsir Samurai now unleashed his... Metapod.

Elekid actually turned back and gave him a look that Kyle could only shrug back to.

Yet another Thunder Shock later, and their match was over.

"Metapod, no!" Samurai cried in over-exaggerated dismay as he fell down on his knees.

Honestly, Kyle wasn't at all impressed with the guy.  
Metapod was a joke, and although Pinsir could've been a strong opponent, it was easy for Elekid to control the pace of the fight through Thunder Shock, Barrier and a tiny bit of footwork.

Elekid was basically stationary the entire fight.

The main problem was with Samurai himself.  
As both trainers and Pokemon discovered, he was a huge crybaby.

"-...a-ah-aa... I-I-am no-not through!" he sniffed angrily, Kyle couldn't help but roll his eyes at the pathetic display.

"Yes you are, get better and drop that stupid costume, then maybe one day people will take you seriously." he mocked, and then couldn't help but to ask "Why were you even looking for me in the first place?"

It wasn't as though he, or Ash for that matter, made a name for himself (yet).

Samurai looked over at Kyle, and the outsider almost took pity seeing Samurai's puffy red eyes and the snot that was dripping out his nose.

Well, almost.

"O-other foes f-f-from Pall-llet have bested m-e-e, I wish t-to claim vengeance upon the t-town of Pallet."

Kyle could only stare at him blankly, he looked over to Misty and they locked eyes briefly, both sighing deeply, and for once coming to an agreement.

"Dude, get a life."

"Yeah!"

Samurai actually didn't seem deterred at this.  
In fact, it only seemed to make him angry.

The ridiculous cosplayer stood up and drew his sword once more "You of Pallet! Defeat is but a state of mind! Until I admit to it I shall never be defeated! Next time we meet, **I** **will be stronger!** "

To some people, such an exclamation may have been inspiring, other might've smiled at that show of faith.  
Misty and Kyle? Not so much.

"Yeah yeah, we will be going now. See you some other time... or not hahaha."

with that being said, the traveling duo left, leaving Samurai by himself.

the boy wiped the tears from his face and stared at the ground with great resolution. That, perhaps, was a changing moment for the child.

Grabbing his sword, Samurai snapped the handle off the blade and dropped a small round object into his hand from a secret container in it.

the object was warm and vibrant, it felt as if it was tied to Samurai's very soul.

"One day, my friend, we shall grow truly strong."

In the middle of Samurai's palm was sitting a Key Stone.

A key to a future that may lay ahead of him.

* * *

"What?!"

Well, Kyle couldn't say he expected any different reaction from Misty, but he felt she should know about Meowth.  
She **was** his traveling partner after all, and she **did** save his behind from Jessie and James.

To put it simply, he felt he owed it to her to be at least somewhat truthful.  
Stupid sentimentalities...

"What do you mean you took their Meowth?!"

"Well technically it's a wild Pokemon..."

"That Pokemon should be in jail!"

"Uhm... Are there even jails for Pokemon?"

Misty paused briefly at that "Well, no, but there **are** rehabilitation centers!"

This isn't working, he needed to find another method to engage this situation.

"Well, and how would we know if this Meowth needs to be rehabilitated?"

"It isn't up to you or me to decide! You absolutely must turn over that Pokeball to the police! And if you don't then I'll tell them about you!" Yes well, that backfired horribly.

Gosh, who knew Misty of all people was such a stickler for the rules? Welp, time to improvise some brilliant manipulation tactics!

Kyle just threw the darn Pokeball as Misty shrieked in shock and tackled him to the ground, fully intent on beating him black and blue.

Easily overpowering Misty, Kyle pulled back to his feet, casually holding the little girl down to the ground with one hand.

Meowth materialized out of the Pokeball, crouching on its knees and breathing for air. It appeared as though someone just let go of its neck after violently choking on It.

"Cripes', D'at twe'p! Stupeed Bawls!" the cat exclaimed loudly, causing Misty to gasp loudly and for Kyle to feign surprise.

Misty then stopped struggling at once and pointed at Meowth "Hey, you can talk!"

Meowth turned to look at them, stunned, before giving Kyle a mean look and pointing at him angrily.

"Yu'! Wha' yu' thnkin' doin' dat twe'p?!"

Kyle chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head and letting go of Misty.  
Not that it mattered, she didn't seem to even register that at all.

"Heh, not sure I was thinking at all you see?" that sounded weak, even in his mind.  
Misty was still flabbergasted and Meowth gave him a wondering look, as though contemplating the pros and cons of cutting him into chunky strips of meat right here and now.

Gulping inaudibly, Kyle gave what he thought was confident smirk as he called out Elekid, who appeared between himself and Meowth.

By now, Misty got back to her feat and was giving him a curious look.

"Look buddy! I caught you, so that's the deal!" Honestly, Kyle thought that being forceful was the best approach to deal with Meowth.  
Basically threatening the little cat to submission.

Honestly, PETA would've had his head.

"Now, let me ask you this, pal, how would you like to be my Pokemon?"

Both Misty and Meowth looked at him as though he was crazy.

"Wha'? I ain' nones Pokemon!"

"Well bad news there, buddy! You're **my** Pokemon! And as far as I know, you'll play along! You know why?!" Kyle shouted as Elekid smirked, it wasn't used to seeing its trainer being this forceful, but he kind of liked it. This Meowth looked like a chump anyway.

Meowth drew out its claws and took a step back, clearly intimidated.  
Elekid's smirk only grew wider and after correctly guessing what Ash was thinking - it charged.

Meowth swung a claw at Elekid, but the Electric-Type easily deflected it with its forearm and punched the cat in the face, causing it to stumble, before chaining an uppercut and a hook to the combo, making Meowth fall over on its back.

"Why did you join Team Rocket? Riches? Glory? I can give you all of those, I can give you much more than that! I can give you freedom!" That was a bold-faced lie and all parties involved knew so immediately.

But that didn't matter.

Meowth was getting up by now, wiping the blood, the actual blood, from its face.

"What'chu 'now 'bout dem 'iches an' Glo'y? Wha' 'Fre'om'?" Meowth charged once more with Fury Swipes, only for them to be deflected yet again and having another fist meet its face.

Seriously, Elekid was enjoying that far too much.

Misty was, for a lack of better term, mystified about Ash's intent.  
Sure, she still thought he was a stupid kid, but it wasn't like him to be this brutal.  
She had half a mind to pull his ear until it bleeds, but decided against it seeing the strange resolution that was reflecting from the boy's eyes.

"I sure as heck know nothing!" he admitted easily "But I want to! You are my Pokemon now, and I will do anything to protect you and help you realize your goals as well as my own! But for now, you are too weak to accomplish anything!"

Meowth retracted its claws, looking at Ash with some obvious hatred and distress.

"Wha'chu mean weak?!"

Kyle suppressed a Smirk. He really couldn't believe that this was working!

"You can't realize any of those dreams if you are weak. What money? What glory? You want to change your life, but you aren't willing to change your choices! What do you want that Team Rocket could possibly give you? It's either me or Poke-jail!"

He wasn't even sure if Poke-jail was a thing, but his generic, shonen-like speech about strength and its importance was doing the trick.

You could hear the light rustle of the leafs, the overall reaction really was that silent.  
Still, Meowth wasn't buying any of that Tauros shit the twerp was trying to sell him just yet.

Taking a step forward to hold his ground, Meowth decided to push the boundaries a bit, at least until he could make his epic escape!

"Well fo' once I wan' out' dat s'upid ball-..."

"Then stay out of it. Done."

that caused Meowth to stop its weak attempts at attacking Elekid, not really believing he got what he wanted so easily.  
Elekid actually seemed disappointed at this sudden development.

"Ash you can't possibly..."

"Shut it Misty!"

Honestly, Kyle was surprised at himself, snapping at someone like that wasn't his style at all.

Maybe Misty's annoying voice was getting to him after all this time.

Misty didn't appreciate that but chose to actually shut up and listen for once.

"So what say you Meowth, will you play along? Will you join me on my journey to victory? To Riches? To glory?"

Meowth actually had to think about it briefly, and the fact that he was getting beaten down to the ground was most certainly having an effect on his judgment.

He would just have to wait around, earn the twerp's trust, and then run away back to Team Rocket whenever he gets the chance! Maybe his partners will rescue him in the meantime!

That, and he really didn't like being on the receiving end of such a beating. Seriously, those left hooks were vicious!

Little did the Cat know, however, that his teammates already tried to rescue him, and failed. Not only that, but for the time being they actually gave up on him.

With his mind made up, Meowth smiled a smooth (read as 'greasy') smile and took a couple of steps back. Elekid huffed and retracted its fists, much to the Cat's relief.

"y' ya Twe'p, I'll play alon'!" Meowth said, shrugging its shoulders smugly.

Kyle very nearly facepalmed at that, Meowth's intentions and act were so transparent that Kyle actually had to wonder how was the Normal-Type Cat-Pokemon made into a field agent in the first place.

Jessie and James had the strength to back up their status as low-key grunts, sure, but what about Meowth? Based on first impressions it wasn't very clever and it was far from being strong - Elekid was beating on it without even resorting to any of its moves!

Maybe it was the simple fact that this was a talking Pokemon? Kyle wouldn't know.

Suddenly an idea came to mind, and Kyle smirked in a way that made Meowth take a step back.  
Elekid began chuckling evilly, Only needing to read the atmosphere in order to find the entire scenario hilarious.

The Electric Pokemon could just tell that something big was heading Meowth's way.

"Well, you'll be able to stay out of your Pokeball for however long, but you can't show anyone that you can talk."

Well, that made some sense "Y' o'course!" he said agreeably, looking very nervous.

"Well, that's all fine and good But once we hit Pewter City, you got **a lot** of training to do."

Meowth was taken aback 'training?'

"An' wy's dat?"

Kyle's smirk grew sadistic.

"Why, that's because you're going to be fighting in Pewter's Gym of course!"

At that, Meowth fainted on the spot.

* * *

"Hey Jess, what are we going to do about Meowth?"

"Don't worry, we will find a way to get past that bratty girl!"

"Speaking of which, her Starmie was both... rare, and valuable. No normal Starmie is that strong."

Jessie nodded in agreement before smirking, her eyes growing sharp "Why, that means that we will have to catch it."

"Hmm, now you speak my language, partner!"

Somewhere else, Misty was knocked out of her stupor by a random sneeze. Wonder why...

* * *

Not the most extensive of chapters but a very important one! Kyle got Pidgeotto after a minor fight, and then Jessie and James came back, no doubt wanting their partner and friend (?) back.

Kyle, however, was way ahead of them, and after reminding Misty that she too was a Pokemon Trainer he simply stood back and watched her rip them a new one.

Misty is a very powerful trainer, even a Gym Leader in training such as herself is far more powerful than some 'random' (not really random) grunts.  
It's going to take a while for Kyle to catch up to her, let alone up to Brock's actual level.

Speaking of which...

Yeah, Brock's going to be toying with Kyle, without really trying at all, Seeing as Kyle doesn't have any badges.  
By that logic, Gym Leaders are going to get progressively stronger the more badges Kyle has under his belt.  
That makes some sense, doesn't it?

So anyway, after getting past the duo Kyle caught a Weedle after an easy fight on his part.  
It also showcased that, much like in the anime, Pidgeotto was willing to listen to him from the moment he caught her.

Then he was challenged by Samurai, who honestly turned out to be a chump and a total push-over, although I bet none of you expected him to have a Key Stone.  
Mega Pinsir confirmed? Perhaps.

As I said in earlier chapters, a lot of 'characters of the day' are going to make more prominent appearances. Samurai **is** going to make a comeback and a big one at that.  
A league opponent for Kyle? Dunno, maybe, I haven't thought that far ahead.

I also wanted to end this chapter with Meowth.

Much like Kyle, Meowth is a coward.  
In terms of personality, I plan for Kyle and Meowth to bond over their need to survive and carry on.  
Such a mindset is going to turn Meowth into Kyle's 'Mascot Pokemon', much like Pikachu was to Ash, and that is the actual plan that I have for Meowth, At least for now.

Honestly, I tend to get kind of random with this sort of stuff.  
I might wake up one day and decide to return Meowth to Jessie and James, or maybe just kill him off in a horrific accident.

Who knows, right? It makes the story more interesting.

Well, enough of that.

For now, Meowth is going to be fighting against Brock.  
And allow me to drop a minor spoiler and tell you right now that he **will** be taking on Onix.

How? Not sure, but it's going to happen.

I still haven't decided if I want Kyle to beat Brock on his first try or not, I'll have to think about it later.  
One thing is for sure, next chapter is going to be mainly a training montage.

If I'll feel like it I'll also add the fight to the same chapter.

Another point of interest is that the Rocket duo didn't take note of Kyle and his Pokemon, but rather of Misty and more specifically of her Starmie.

Well honestly better her than him, right? Kyle isn't really going to feel bad about it, although he still got a target mark painted on him because of Meowth.

Heh, was it really just a plot device for me to have Kyle capture Meowth?  
Meh, maybe, who knows? I thought my reasoning was pretty okay, at least when compared to the viewpoint of a stressed and scared teen.

It remains to be seen if his decision was wise or foolish.

Well, off to the Pokemon Profiles.

BTW, I'll add one for Misty once I reveal some more of her Pokemon.

So we got the following:

1) Elekid.  
Ability: Static  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Quick Attack, Thunder Shock, Barrier, Leer.

2) Spearow  
Ability: Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Peck, Quick Attack, Fury Attack, Focus Energy.

3) Magikarp  
Ability: Swift Swim  
Gender: Female (!)  
Moves: Splash.

4) Pidgeotto  
Ability: Keen Eye  
Gender: Female  
Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Sand Attack.

5) Meowth  
Ability: Technician  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes. Bite, ?.

6)Weedle  
Ability: Shield Dust  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Poison Sting, String Shot, Bug Bite

And that's pretty much that! A full team!

Feel free to remind me in case I forgot something.

Until next time, I'm out! Make sure to keep up with the reviews, I do appreciate them!


	4. Fistful Of Concrete

Heh, A lot less feedback this time around.

A shame. and just when we got past the 2,200 views traffic-mark too.

You know what's worse? Even after all of the hype, after naming the episode "Kalos League Victory! Ash's Ultimate Match!" and after getting Alain to a 3 VS 2 position...

Ash still lost.

He fucking lost. Fuck.

At this, I officially quit the Pokemon anime. This shit is getting old as it is, why couldn't they just let him actually **win** for once? Is that truly too much to ask?

As far as the anime goes, Alola to Ash is probably going to be another "Orange Islands" or "Battle Frontier". Meaning some fighting and a victory to make us less sore about the fact that he **can't win any official Pokemon league!**

Fuck.

Am I the only one pissed off at this?

I'm utterly done with the anime, I'll probably catch up from time to time to see if any developments might be relevent to my story, or just to mock the writers over their stupid choices, but I won't be **watching** any episodes of the anime untill **Ash finally wins!**

And with that little rant out of the way, I'll be addressing some of the stuff you wrote.

 **heavansick** : Will there be a Pinsir VS Beedrill fight? Will Ash catch any legendary Pokemon? Will Meowth help Kyle find rare Pokemon? The chapters are a bit short, how come?

 **Answer(s)** : 1) Probably somewhere along, but a mega-evolved fight isn't going to happen for quite some time, if ever. 2) Nope, legends are legends for a reason. In my story they won't be degraded in any way and will be far out reach for Kyle. 3) Haven't thought about it. Catching 'rare' Pokemon for the sake of them being 'rare' seems like a cliché to me, and quite frankly I would like to avoid those whenever possible. 4) I get lazy and just decide to post them and be done with it, what can you do heh?

Ugh...

Is that it?

Why yes, that is, in fact, 'it'.

Although I did get a lot of suggestions, most of you still want him to have all of the Kanto starters, so I'll probably give them to him. There is, however, going to be a lot of tension between Kyle and Bulbasaur, I'm warning you in advance. Squirtle also might be a bit difficult for Kyle.

But, the crowd has spoken!

That aside, opinions about 'Ghost-Ash' seem to vary greatly, so for now I won't make a Ghost Ash thing, but that may change yet, so that question is still up. I do appreciate anyone that did give me some feedback.

People really did seem to like the Alola forms, so I'll add them eventually over time.

So anyways! Although I don't have any new questions, the questions from chapter 5 still stand, so go check them out! and as always all of your questions and suggestions will be addressed!

Off to chapter 6, will Kyle beat Brock or will this be a bust?

Read and find out!

* * *

"Pewter City is gray, the color of stone."

Wait what? Oh, that's just Flint. Right, Flint.

It actually didn't take that long for the trio to find the exit out of Viridian forest. The walk may have been difficult but altogether manageable. Meowth, as it turned out, had a good sense of direction and was familiar with the area, apparently due to his specialized filed agent training.

That struck Kyle as a bit odd, although it made perfect sense. As a Team Rocket agent Meowth received some specific training to make achieving whatever goals easier, some of which included navigation techniques. The fact that Team Rocket bothered preparing their own men this time around was a scary thought to Kyle.

So, after finishing the long walk Kyle, Misty and Meowth actually sat down to relax briefly, only for Flint to randomly bother them. Kyle didn't like Flint all that much from what he could recall, not after the man abandoned his family like that.

"Hey Ash" Misty called, tilting her head "you know who this guy is?" to which Kyle simply shrugged.

"Never met 'em."

Flint cackled a bit "Names Flint, and you three are sitting on some of my merchandise."

Misty examined the rocks briefly before giving Flint a look and hopping to her feet, putting both her hands on her hips and flat-out shouting "I know Pewter's known for its rocks, but you are seriously pushing it there pal!"

Arceus bless Misty and her bluntness.

"Those are authentic Pewter City souvenirs, want to buy some?" Flint asked, ignoring both the look she was giving him and Meowth's snickering. Kyle could only sigh, this is going to be a long day.

"No thanks Flint, mind showing us where the Pokemon Center around here is?"

"Heh, sure. Follow me kids." Flint said after getting up, he began walking towards the city itself.

"Hey, maybe this guy isn't all that bad after all!" Misty exclaimed brightly and Kyle could only sigh. Meowth seemed to have a similar opinion, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"By the way, that will be 2 dollars for sitting on my merchandise." Flint remarked stoically, Kyle didn't know whether or not he was joking.

Misty growled but followed none the less.

On the way to the Pokemon Center Flint was giving Meowth inquisitive looks, only then did Kyle realise how unusual was it for a Meowth to walk on two legs. The feline however simply walked forward, pretending to not notice Flint's looks.

after arriving to the Pokemon Center Kyle and Misty passed their Pokeballs, except for Meowth, to Nurse Joy who smiled at them.

Turning back Kyle suddenly was looking directly at a Pokemon League registration poster. Kyle looked at it, deep in thought, was this truly the only way to have an adventure? Mistaking his look, Flint began laughing

"Ha. Ha .Ha" it was a very forced sound "Don't tell me youare planning to challenge Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader?"

Well, if Misty was anything to judge by than Brock is going to be a force to be reckoned with, but even so...

"Is he going to go easy on me?" Kyle had to ask, Flint would probably know.

If Flint was surprised, he did not show it. Instead he simply replied "Probably a lot, but you still aren't going to beat him." and with that he went on his way, laughing.

Misty looked at Kyle, giving him a smirk.

"Gym Leaders are way tougher than your average everyday trainers, even when holding back a lot." She said, looking pleased with herself "Tell you what Ash, if you ask me really nicely I'll help you out."

Kyle briefly exchanged looks with Meowth, the small feline shrugged, and Kyle smirked at Misty, something which seemed to surprise her.

"Heh, thought you would never ask!"

* * *

"Starmie, Thunderbolt!"

a great wave of electricity struck at Elekid with raging force, chagring the very oxygen around them. Elekid attempted to counter with its own Thunder Shock and Barrier, but his attempts proved inferior to the star-shaped Pokemon and its assault. Elekid was knocked back and sent rolling down the grass before slamming at a tree, coming to a halt, struggling to stand up.

Kyle clicked his tongue, even when struck by an Electric-Type move and having its defenses set up Elekid still was defeated in one blow.

Even Misty began feeling sorry for Elekid by now.

"Um, Ash, I think this is a bit much..."

Kyle sighed and looked over to the rest of his 'team' - Spearow was having a glaring match with Pidgeotto, Meowth trying to pluck Magikarp from the river, probably to eat her, and Weedle was trying to pull itself out of a tree after giving it a headbutt.

Some team he got alright.

Walking over to Weedle, Kyle pulled the little bug out of the tree, causing Weedle to wriggle.

"Heya buddy, don't overdo it. Next match we have you might seriously kill someone with that kind of attack!" Kyle said with a soothing voice, causing Weedle to wriggle proudly.

"Hey Meowth, get over here!" Kyle shouted to the cat, who didn't even turn to look at him. Kyle's eyebrow twitched.

"Weedle, pull him over here with String Shot!" the small worm shot a short blast of silky string at Meowth, grabbing the surprised feline by the tail before yanking him hard. Meowth shot over the air and landed hard near them, dazed and yet somewhat displeased.

"And don't think I forgot about you pal!For your training you are going to be sparring with Weedle!" The two looked at Kyle, surprised, before Meowth burst out laughing, something which Weedle did not seem to appreciate.

The tiny bug hit him directly with a Poison Sting, sending Meowth rolling back and grabbing his nose in pain.

Good.

As for Elekid, after that move it pulled against Ritchie's Charmander Kyle figured it could afford to get knocked down a peg.

Speaking of Elekid, the small Electric Pokemon got up already, recovering quickly from the electric blast that it was hit by prior. Kyle recalled how Pikachu learned Thunderbolt by getting overcharged with electricity at the power plant (Which they were standing next to specifically), so Kyle figured that if Elekid was hit with enough powerful Electric-Type moves he should be able to withstand more electricity, thus making the process of learning Thunderbolt easier. Theoretically of course.

And even if not, Elekid still got some live experience with how to deal with irresistible force, so all was well.

With that in mind, Kyle nodded briefly toward Misty, who released a deep sigh before issuing a command

"Starmie, Thunderbolt once more!"

Another shot, and Elekid was once more knocked over.

This was going to take a while.

Calling over the two angry birds Kyle pulled out his Pokedex and read the instructions about how to teach Steel wing. The overall process was a simple one - make their wings stronger and harder, and the move will come instinctively by itself.

With that in mind...

"Alright, what I need you guys to do is to start lifting rocks with your wings" The two birds looked at him as though he is an idiot. Well, Spearow more so than Pidgeotto.

"You two are going to be learning steel wing, and for that you need to make your wings stronger and harder. Lifting weights and smashing your wings against rocks is the only way to do that."

Pidgeotto tilted her head, and Spearow flapped its wings without rising from the ground. Kyle understood the tiny red bird somehow.

"Well, you're going to learn how to walk faster, what more can I say?" That didn't seem to please either of the birds, and Kyle sighed.

Training was such a pain.

"Look, if your wings ever get injured for whatever reason, you two are going to be out-of-order, right? That's still good training for whenever the day comes!"

Looking slightly more convinced, the two birds walked over to some random rocks (Pewter City - The City Of Stone!) and began lifting them with some difficulty; the task appeared to be much easier for Pidgeotto than it was for Spearow, much to the smaller bird's chargin.

Looking back over Meowth and Weedle Kyle actually snorted when he saw that Weedle was actually winning - having already trapped Meowth in a large ball of its strings.

Kyle Pulled a pocket knife out of his bag and cut Meowth free, meanwhile Elekid was knocked over for the third time in a row.

"Heya twe'p" Meowth slurred "The heck you doin' tryin' ta ki'me?"

Kyle chuckled a bit "Nothing like that." he answered and turned over to Weedle, pointing at a large rock with one of his hands.

"Hey Weedle, mind encasing this with your String Shot?"

Weedle cooed enthusiastically and crawled over to the big rock, with Meowth and Kyle following it.

releasing a great amount of string, Weedle covered the entire rock, making it look like a giant silky pillow.

'Good. Now Meowth, without using your claws, start slamming this thing with your paws and tail."

"Wha?" Was Meowth's input on the matter.

"Look, you are standing on your two back legs as is, wouldn't it make sense for you to learn to swing your paws the way a Fighting-Type would swing its fists? Who knows, you might learn a fighting move and you sure as heck could use those, judging by how Elekid trashed you in hand-to-hand. That, and I'm trying to make your tail stronger to learn Iron Tail and get you ready to fight against Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader."

"Heh, hehe, you we'r siri'us 'bout dat?" The cat chuckled nervously before turning and starting to run away, Kyle could only sigh and motion to Weedle.

The little worm, already knowing what to do, nailed Meowth in the back with its string and pulled the cat back through the air. Meowth landed straight on its face, hard, proving that cats do not always land on their feet.

"Right..." Kyle mumbled, already facepalming.

Cue Elekid getting electrocuted for the fourth time.

"Weedle, make sure that this idiot doesn't run away anywhere and that he does what I told him to do, I'm counting on you." Weedle puffed out its chest with pride, determined to see this order through, and giving Meowth a determined 'do it or else' look that caused the cat to look at it with contempt

Kyle walked over to the river, looking at Magikarp just flailing around happily. Well no more.

"Hey Magikarp!" she shouted, causing the fish to look at him briefly. Kyle smirked and picked up a stone, he didn't notice how Misty got to his side. wondering what he was up to.

"Dodge!" Kyle shouted, throwing the stone with great speed and force, Magikarp wasn't able to react quickly enough and was nailed in the head by the vicious projectile, causing it to turn over and screech in pain and surprise.

Misty then slapped him out of nowhere.

"What do you think you're doing you massive idiot?!" she roared in an unfeminine manner "This isn't how you train a Pokemon, this isn't how you train anything! If I knew what was going to happen to this poor Magikarp I wouldn't have let you capture it in the first place!"

Kyle scratched the back of his head "Well, I thought to train Makirap a bit, and I didn't really have any better ideas-..."

By now Misty had enough and she kicked Ash's back, causing him to fall into the river. Pulling out a Pokeball she released her Goldeen.

"Move it, loser, I'll show you how it's done! Again!"

Kyle pulled himself out of the river, soaked to the bone and less than pleased, that river was freaking cold! He supposed he could let Misty deal with Magikarp for now, though from what he could recall Misty was... scared... of... Gyarados!

Gasping in realization Kyle looked at the ginger girl, was this why she froze when seeing Gyarados? Not out of fear for its strength but out of fear for it being a Gyarados? If so, then that would imply that Misty could've dealt with the Atrocious Pokemon herself, without needing Jack and Raichu in the first place.

That actually made Kyle slightly afraid. How big was the sheer gap between them? she couldn't be much more expirenced than he was judging by her age. Was Misty some sort of prodigy maybe? Was every legit trainer this powerful? the thought was a frightning one.

Looking over to Elekid and Starmie, Kyle couldn't help but to notice how that upon his fifth try Elekid could already withstand Starmie's Thunderbolt a lot better, not struggling as much with it any more.

The real shocker however came when Elekid actually shot his own Electric-Type move at Starmie, a powered up Thunder Shock.

Starmie glew cyan and redirected the Thunder Shock back at Elekid, Elekid shot another Thunder Shock and the two attacks hit each other evenly, causing the Electricity to disperse. Elekid smirked and gave Starmie a 'Come on' motion with its hand, only for Starmie to shoot a stronger Thunderbolt and knock Elekid over once more.

'This is going to be a very long training montage' he couldn't help but to think.

* * *

Meowth was punched in the face once more and was sent flying to the ground, clutching its nose in pain.

Elekid simply smirked, the score thus far was 9-0 in Elekid's favour. But honestly Meowth was improving a lot, that next attempt is going to be slightly different judging by the gleam in the cat's eyes.

Getting up, Meowth readied itself. In truth, the feline was getting much stronger, not to mention that he was developing his lacking, almost human-like combat instincts.

So after getting up both Pokemon got into a fighting stance once more, some odd combination between a stance that Kyle himself happened to know and one that was described in the Pokedex. After watching some Videos on the device Elekid began formulating a different approach to close quarters combat, which was a good thing since even the strongest of Focus Punches was nothing more than an overpowered straight. Misty was actually pretty impressed with this insight, but didn't want Ash to think too highly of himself (he was still a total novice!) so she didn't actually say anything.

However, getting instructions and having random scuffles with some other Pokemon is hardly going to be enough, particularly because neither of the two are Fighting-Types and as such the two are bound to reach a certain wall, limit, that they will have to push through in order to advance their skill, and for that they are going to have to get some help from an expert.

Heck, the Pokedex said they same thing. Useful thing that Pokedex.

Elekid took the first move, aiming a jab at Meowth. Meowth dodged it and struck out with a scratch. From what Misty said Meowth did not lack power, but rather he was very clumsy and unskilled.

that became evident as Elekid used Barrier briefly, blocking Meowth's scratch and knocking it out of balance. Elekid then nailed Meowth once more with a hook, however Meowth already got hit with that very same hook many times by now, and instinctively twisted its body to minimize the damage as he pulled out its claws, taking a swing at Elekid who easily dodged it. At least untill a wave sand hit it in the eyes.

Meowth's extended claws were used to rip through the dirt, causing some sand to rise to Elekid's eyes, blinding it briefly.

Meowth took the opportunity and turned, hitting Elekid in the stomach with its semi-complete Iron Tail. Elekid staggered a bit and Kyle could only sigh.

Snarling in rage, Elekid's arm took an orange hue as he swung it at Meowth. The cat was nailed in the face, hard, and was sent tumbling down to the ground. Elekid - 10, Meowth - 0.

While wiping the sand out of its eyes Elekid was hit by a Thunderbolt from behind, courtesy of Starmie. Seriously that thing is a sadist, even though hitting Elekid by surprise with Thunderbolt was Kyle's idea. It's just that Elekid started getting used to Starmie's Thunderbolts, so Kyle figured that getting hit by them while not prepared was the next step, the fact that Elekid took it in stride was only a bonus.

As such, Elekid was flung through the air and collided with a tree, actually snapping it as it was sent rolling back off of the tree's bark, not getting up.

Kyle turned to Misty and gave her a look, she could only chuckle sheepishly. Kyle sighed and looked at Meowth, the cat was out cold.

Meh, he'll wake up eventually and by then the training will carry on. Elekid was on the same boat after all, and although some might find it cruel, heck **Kyle** found it cruel, it was ultimately a necessity.

turning over to Pidgeotto and Spearow Kyle watched them with open interest. He had the two of them spar on land, and Pidgeotto was pretty much in the lead.

at the moment, Pidgeotto easily blocked Spearow's Steel Wing with one of its own wings, casually pushing the tiny bird back before slamming its own Steel Wing at Spearow who, despite blocking it with two of its wings, was pushed back by the blow.

Kyle nodded briefly before turning to his two remaining Pokemon - Weedle and Magikarp. Weedle was currently trying to snipe Magikarp with its string shot and was failing badly, by the time Weedle got faster and more accurate Magikarp grew faster and more nimble as well. Goldeen was overseeing the training with some satisfaction.

"Hey Ash" he heard Misty say "How are you going to deal with Brock?"

Kyle hummed thoughtfully "Well, Elekid and Meowth are my main guys to go, although I am training everyone just in case. I want Pidgeotto and Spearow to get better at using their Steel Wing move, after that I'll have them get faster both on ground and air. I want Elekid to learn Brick Break and Thunderbolt, Magikarp just need to get speedier for now, and Goldeen is plenty of help with that. Meowth is a bit more problematic, but ultimately I'll challenge Brock when Weedle evolves into a Beedrill, that looks like the optimal timeframe for training to me, seeing at how quickly the Beedrill line evolves."

Misty looked taken aback by that, such a pragmatic approach was a rarity amongst novice trainers, maybe Ash will make something of himself one day.

Not that she was going to admit it out loud or anything, s-stupid!

"Speaking of which, why are you so intent about helping me out" Kyle had to ask, Misty was helping him out, wasting entire **days** that she could've been training her own Pokemon in for the sake of helping him out.

"That's a weird question, that's 'cause we are friends!"

and that one sentence caused Kyle's mind to shut down. 'Friend'; was Misty truly a friend of his? No, she wasn't, she was Ash's friend, and he wasn't Ash. He wasnt, darn it! He shouldn't feel happy and light-headed in her company, and yet...

Misty noticed how Ash's expression turned sour and eyed him carefully, gently placing her arm on his shoulder in an unusual tribute of friendship.

Kyle trembled and pulled back, as though electrocuted. This wasn't his world, none of this was of any meaning! Soon enough reality will slap him across the face, to remind him cruelly that none of this was real, real to him.

Coldness rushed all over his skin, he felt briefly as though he will go mad if any of this will continue!

"Ash..." Misty's voice was oddly soothing, but Kyle shook his head and forced a light smile to his face. Pangs of guilt stabbing him when he noticed the unusual hurt in her eyes.

"I am fine, just some bad memories is all." Misty nodded slowly

'Was he bullied that badly in his childhood?' she couldn't help but to think, for someone to get so anxious over the mention of the word 'friend' was very odd to her.

"ELEKIDDDDD!"

The duo looked over and so that Elekid was back to its feet, still rather injured and very furious. it appeared as though raw anger and adrenaline was keeping the Electric-Type on its feet. What's more, it was glaring at Starmie with obvious hatred.

'What an idiot' everyone present thought simultaneously.

So indeed, Elekid cried a terrible battle-cry and shot a Thunder-Shock directly at Starmie. All watching instantly knew that this isn't going to work, and so it did not, Starmie redirected the Thunder Shock with its Psychic and added a Thunderbolt to boot. The two attacks merged into a massive lightning that had Kyle widen his eyes - if that thing hits, Elekid is done for!

Not so, however.

Spinning its arms like a large dynamo, Elekid began discharging some electricity outward. When the enhanced Thunderbolt struck it Elekid screeched in pain but instantly spread the electricity around its discharge field, returning that very same electricity back to Starmie - in the form of it own Thunderbolt!

Starmie caught the Thunderbolt with its psychic grasp, actually generating a a small shockwave around the point of conntact between the Thunderbolt and Psychic, the air itself was filled with ripples, like water, from the psychic backlash before Starmie hurled it at a random direction.

Elekid's Thunderbolt hit Weedle, and it hit it hard, and just when Kyle was about to start mourning the little worm a great deal of white light spread all around the clearing, large waves of silk were shot upwards and all around Kakuna. Everyone was stunned as the electric current was snapped mid-way, and the strings around Weedle suddenly got loose, falling and revealing the newly formed Kakuna.

"Kuku" Kakuna uttered, making odd clicking sounds and although it did not have an expression now Kyle could recognise from the tone of its voice that it was very pleased with itself.

And then it fainted and every one face-faulted.

"Um, we should go to the Pokemon Center y'know..."

Kyle actually cringed at the thought, when he taught Elekid Rock Smash he had the Electric-Type Pokemon hit rocks with its bare hands untill he couldn't continue anymore, if Elekid's arms were any weaker he would have broken multiple bones in such an endeavour, that still didn't stop good ol' nurse Joy from giving him an earful on the matter.

"Off to the Pokemon Center, then..."

No one noticed that Meowth was up on its feet, and was looking over them in slight wonder.

* * *

Kyle and Meowth were having a jog together.

That would have been a great moment of bonding between the two if not for Meowth having to carry a large sack full of rocks on its back, some Pewter City souvenirs. they were just finishing a seven mile jog and Meowth looked as though he was going to drop dead at any moment.

When they returned to the clearing they saw Misty fishing near the river shore alongside her Starmie. Magikarp was still swimming around with Goldeen and Kyle honestly could only sigh in frustration. Ever since he hit his Magikarp with that stone she refused to acknowledge him, she was training only due to Goldeen's encouragement and was doing quite well for herself too. Yet despite this Kyle couldn't help but to think what was going to happen when she evolved into a Gyarados, with that in mind Kyle was determined to make amends with the little carp Pokemon.

Elekid meanwhile was working on its Brick Break and Rock Smash by helping Kakuna work on its Harden and String Shot dodges, meaning that Elekid was beating on a hardened Kakuna who would retreat once it felt harden was failing.

From Misty told Kyle the difference between Harden and Iron Defence was in the extent of hardening, Meaning that if you harden enough and well enough you'll learn Iron Defence regardless of any other factor.

All that being said, Kyle simply took Misty's explanation the wrong way and had Elekid and Kakuna go at it as brutally as the two could manage.

Spearow and Pidgeotto were playing catch, with Pidgeotto unable to so much as touch the evasive tiny bird, each time Spearow took a dive Pidgeotto wasn't able to follow-up and change direction as quickly.

Turning to Meowth, who dropped its sack of rocks to the ground and fell on his behind, panting, Kyle couldn't help but to consider the feline. The thing is that Kyle honestly didn't know why Meowth was the way he was, Kyle had to follow him around and threaten it to do things, and Meowth knew that it was either that or some rehabilitation facility, so it was relatively cooperative. No, that wasn't the problem.

The thing is that the more Kyle thought about it the less did it make sense - Meowth showed many talents throughout the series, as a chef for starters, not to mention the fact that Meowth could actually talk, and was possibly one of the few Pokemon capable of such a thing in the world - who knows in how much money the cat could be rolling in if he used his talents better, any potential glory aside...

"Hey Meowth, how come you joined Team Rocket?" Kyle asked, Meowth looked at him oddly.

Truth be told, Meowth would have, under normal circumstances, escaped long ago as is. If being accompanied by any normal trainer it would be a trivial tasl to overpower/outmaneuver them and run. Ash wasn't normal, this twerp scared him, he couldn't possibly be a normal punk kid. He gave a certain dangerous vibe, not necessarily in the 'clever genius' way, but rather the kind that a stronger Pokemon gave to a weaker one - 'you defy me, I break you'.

And Meowth didn't, he couldn't possibly do so. more humiliating was how that stupid Weedle, now a Kakuna, easily caught him whenever he tried to escape. Imagine, him, losing to a Weedle! Oh how far have the mighty fallen, what would Jessie and James say when they find out?

"Dunno, din' hav' betta things ta do y'know?" Meowth finally answered, sounding displeased.

"So you joined a criminal organization, an act which could have made you a wanted Pokemon, because... you had nothing better to do?" Kyle asked slowly and incredulously. And for a good reason too, who joins a freaking mafia-like military force because they are bored?!

"Uh, didn' have da bes' life 'till Rok't." he said, shrugging "So I thought - if I can' get to da gud life by da street I need to get gud at somethin' and roll with dat"

Kyle hummed, that made some sense but...

"Hey wait a sec, aren't you a talking Pokemon?"

"Hay ya deafman! can' ya ear me talk?"

"Well, why didn't you try to work as a Pokemon-to-human translator? I am sure many trainers would like to know what they Pokemon have to say about them."

Meowth's jaw then literally dropped, hanging in a height that Kyle didn't think was bio-mechanically possible, so in worry he pushed Meowth's lower jaw back to his upper jaw. Meowth shook his head and locked eyes with Kyle, giving him a serious look.

"U-u think?!" Meowth stuttered in amazement.

"Yeah, sure thing!"

Tears began welling up Meowth's eyes, much to Kyle discomfort. Awkwardly pulling Meowth to a hug Kyle started petting his head, only for Meowth to pull closer.

This was actually a bit ridiculous, if he was being honest about it.

none of them noticed how Flint was watching from afar, he has been doing just that in the past week and a half and quite frankly he was surprised by the boy's approach, even more so than he was stunned by the youthful Water-Type trainer that was accompanying him. For one so young to be such a powerful trainer was quite a feat, the fact that she was so willing to assist the other boy might have indicated that she held some level of affection towards him, if not for the miniscule movements that Flint was able to pinpoint from afar that said otherwise. Hey, he had 11 children, he was a lover, not a fighter.

Both were ultimately unpolished gems and had great talents. The boy and his Pokemon in particular showed great interest in training and vast improvement through some of the most obscure and grueling training regiments Flint has ever seen a beginner put his Pokemon through.

As of now, this Ash kid seemed to have a heartfelt moment with his Meowth, a curious little thing it was too. Flint decided to go and talk to the boy, so after waiting for the trainer and his Pokemon to finish up their pep talk and what not he started walking towards them.

After separating from each other Kyle and Meowth stood up, it was already late and everyone seemed to be pretty beat up by now.

"You are a very special trainer, aren't you kid?"

Snapping towards the noise he locked eyes with a familiar figure 'Oh, its flint.' he couldn't help but to think some rather distasteful thoughts, for Kyle held a very low opinion of the man, all things considered.

"Follow me."

and with that said Flint turned on his heel, walking away. Meowth and Kyle exchanged looks before shrugging simultaneously and following Brock's father.

Walking for about 5 minutes straight was all it took to get Kyle impatient. Flint also decided to strike some small talk, probably just to mess with him.

"So, that's a pretty special Meowth you got there, huh?"

Kyle wasn't willing to play along, so he just shut his mouth and Flint seemed to take the hint if his slumped shoulders were of any indication.

Flint pulled Kyle behind a bush and motioned him to be quiet. Looking through it Kyle could see Brock with his siblings, he appeared to be running some odd puppet show from used socks, trying to humor his younger siblings. This was different from the anime, it made Kyle's heart twist inwards in distaste to the man who was standing at his side.

"W-why are you showing me this?" Kyle's voice hitched, Flint could only sigh.

"Brock is a gentle soul, the life of a Gym Leader isn't the kind of life that Brock should be having. The trainers rat-race will never serve to make him happy, it will give him no fulfillment."

Flint started walking away from the bush, and by now even Meowth was getting teary-eyed. Pokemon and trainer followed Flint as he continued talking.

"His good for nothing father left to try his luck as a trainer due, but that was just an excuse, he needed to get away after his wife left him to travel around the world. In the end both of them turned out to be selfish..."

Even if Kyle didn't know for a fact that Flint was Brock's father he would have already suspected something along those lines, Flint was just acting far too... familiar.

"What do you want me to do?" he didn't bother asking why was Flint telling him this, perhaps this was due to the heat of the moment, but getting angry at such a broken-sounding man was far too difficult for the brunette youth.

"Give Brock his passion back, lord knows he needs it." and with that Flint walked away, and so did Kyle.

When they were a good 100 feet from each-other Kyle called "Hey, Flint!". It wasn't a particularly loud exclamation, however the street was very quiet, and his voice carried over loud and clear. Flint stopped but did not turn to look at him, neither did Kyle. Meowth was looking over this dramatic stand-off awed.

"Instead of calling yourself a good for nothing father you should go and talk with your kids."

Flint gasped and turned, only to be faced with an empty street, much to his surprise.

In truth though, Kyle pulled Meowth by his hand and jumped behind a trash can for the dramatic exit.

What? He was being super cool!

"Kid I know you are behind that trash can."

Well, so much for a cool exit.

* * *

Pewter really was the city of stone, something which became all the more evident to Kyle by looking at the city's Gym. It was basically just a massive rock with a door and a beat-up sign that read "Pewter Gym".

Looking over to Meowth, who became much more cooperative after their shared moment, and having the cat nod to him hesitantly, Kyle nodded back and entered the Gym.

The Gym's interior was as gray and dull as its exterior, even the combat area was a plain lump of dirt in the middle of the Gym. It was also dark, no light passed through the place.

"Who goes there?!" an echoing voice boomed, the sheer loudness of it caused the two companions to stumble in surprise.

Kyle snapped his head when a single concentrated light illuminated Brock's figure, he was sitting on a big rock, cross-legged, wearing his old green vest.

"My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet!" Kyle lied "I came to challenge Pewter's Gym Leader!"

Brock looked at him for a moment longer before asking "I take it this is your first Gym challenge?".

"Yes, it is. I know there are special rules as well." he responded, was it really that obvious to Brock? Brock looked at him for a second longer before nodding and standing up.

"This Meowth of yours... curious." he commented mildly "however it is yet weak and untrained, it will lose."

Kyle smirked in defiance "We will have to see about it, won't we Brocko?"

The mocking tone went amiss with the adolescent youth who simply nodded, already used to such trash talk from overconfident beginners who didn't know anything about training Pokemon. Of all four beginners from pallet, this one took by far the longest to come and face him. None of the others have defeated his no-badge team in less than two attempts, they simply rushed to his Gym and Brock wiped the floor with them. It took a combination of multiple tries, type advantage, and for Brock to go a bit easy on them for them to claim his badge, even when not using any of his stronger, more capable Pokemon.

Suddenly the arena started to shift, with two rock-filled platforms coming out of nowhere from Kyle's two sides. Both he and Meowth gasped in surprise and ran over to the other side of the Gym, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the two platforms.

'What the hell Brock? Who designs a Gym like this anyway?!' Kyle thought angrily, little did he know that Brock actually did it on purpose just to mess with him.

As far as first impressions went Brock wasn't at all impressed.

"This is a standard 2 VS 2 match-..."

"Where's the referee?"

"W-what?" Now here's something new.

"You know, the guy that oversees the match, where is he?"

"According to the rules, an overseer is not required against a trainer with less than three badges." Brock was actually taken aback, no beginner he met thus far bothered with such miniscule details.

"Mm, I see..."

"Tell me, how long have you been a trainer?" he asked, despite knowing already.

"About a three and a half weeks now?"

"Very well then, I'll start with Geoooodudeeeee goooooooooo!" he shouted, empathizing the 'o' and 'e', something which made the statement as a whole sound ridiculous.

None the less, Kyle flipped Ash's hat back. It's about to go down!

"Cry thunder, Elekid!" he shouted, tossing Elekid's Pokeball. Honestly this battle cry was the coolest he was able to come up with.

Up in the stands, where Misty was sitting for some reason, she rolled her eyes and muttered 'idiots'. Looking to her side she could see nothing short of a pile of children. Ash may have told her about how big was Brock's family but seeing is believing.

Geodude and Elekid faced off against each other, Brock raised an eyebrow at Ash's choice.

"An Electric-Type? surely not."

"Heh, we'll show you! Elekid, use Leer!"

Elekid narrowed its eyes and glared at Geodude with glowing irises, and opposing Pokemon briefly glowed green. 'huh, so that's how it works...'

"Futile. Geodude, Rock Polish, then Rollout!" Glowing a bright red, Geodude started rolling over to Elekid. Good.

"Elekid, Shield Rush!" Kyle issued, something which caught Brock off guard, who never heard of such a move.

Generating its Barrier, Elekid rushed forward with Quick Attack, creating a slight gap in its Barrier.

The two collided, with Elekid closing its arms on Geodude, forcing the rock Pokemon to slow down and stop, taking some damage from colliding with what amounted to a wall of psychic energy.

"Geodude Use-..."

"Rock Smash it 'till it dies!"

Indeed it was so, Elekid let go of Geodude as both of his arms glowed orange, before he started beating Geodude all over its body for massive damage, with the rock Pokemon only able to raise its arms to get some measure of defense.

Brock realised this wasn't any normal beginner. No beginner would try to press and abuse an advantage like that, they were far more boastful, letting their opponent to get up and try again. This was an entirely different scenario - from the moment Ash got the advantage he flat-out refused to back off.

And Rock Smash...? The type disadvantage was nothing more than a ruse to deceive him, to lure him into a trap.

Well alright then...

"Geodude, use Rock Smash!"

"Elekid, Brick Break!"

Geodude had enough, he was nailed five times already and honestly it was getting to him. So swaying out of an incoming attack it raised its orange fist, fully intent to score a massive counter attack, only for Elekid to shift position and swing a Brick Break as a counter while raising its other arm to block.

Geodude's glowing fist hit Elekid's arm hard, but Elekid didn't flinch in the slightest. On the other hand, Elekid's other hand came crashing down on Geodude's head for massive damage, and yet Kyle wasn't done with him.

"Elekid, judo toss him and use Brick Break once more!"

That was actually a move that Kyle knew from real life, more specifically, from when he was practicing judo in 5th grade, that was pretty much the only thing he remembered from back then too.

Elekid grabbed Geodude's arm while the latter was dazed and flipped him over his shoulder to the ground before raising its arm once more and smashing it on top of Geodude's back side, actually cracking the floor from the sheer force behind the blow.

Needless to stand, Geodude didn't get up.

Brock and his siblings were speechless, Misty was smirking although rather surprised herself, Kyle was smiling and Elekid was panting.

Brock was rather amazed really. This fight, if you can even call it that, was a one-sided beat down and nothing else. It was clear to him that Ash came up with this strategy beforehand. To get the drop on him, for however briefly, only to exploit it with unforseen ruthlessness. The fact that Elekid was obviously trained in hand to hand of all things was stunning, normally trainers waited for a very long time before training their non-fighters any measure of hand-to-hand, assuming they actually bothered with such a thing in the first place.

Brock could only ask "Shield Rush?"

Kyle hummed in affirmation "Yeah, Elekid knows Barrier" at that Elekid flinched a little, yet only Brock noticed "so its like a shield, and charging with it turns it into a Shield Rush, no?"

"A move combination? That's not something most trainers come up with untill much later."

Kyle could only shrug "Yes well, I am not 'most trainers'. I pride myself on doing things differently."

"Yes I can see, but still, 'hit it 'till it dies?'" That comment actually bugged him quite a bit, as nonchalant as he tried to sound. Kyle had the decency to look sheepish "Yeah that's a bit of a 'heat of the moment' thing y'know?."

Brock nodded briefly, although he really didn't know, and returned Geodude as his siblings were glaring at Kyle "However this match is far from over Ooooonix gooooo!"

Out came Onix with a massive roar that caused Elekid to start sweating a bit, the size of the beast reminded him of Gyarados. Kyle was also speechless, that thing really was much bigger in real life.

"Alright Elekid, let's do this!"

"Ele-kid!"

"Onix, Iron Tail!"

"Barrier!"

Onix's tail grew white and it struck out violently at Elekid, who put up his defense with Barrier. The difference in power was far too great however, and as such Onix easily tossed Elekid into a boulder, smashing through it the process.

'such brute force!' Misty thought in awe. Kyle honestly was prepared for Onix's power and Barrier absorbed most of the damage anyway, he wasn't however prepared for the follow-up.

"Dragon Breath!"

Oh that's just bull-...

the green jet of flames struck at Elekid, causing it to outright explode upon contact with the ground, sending debris all over. This wasn't how this was supposed to go!

"Onix, Dragon Breath once more!" oh no you don't!

"Elekid, Thunderbolt!"

out of the settling dust came a bolt of lightning that colided with Onix's Dragon Breath. the explosion hit Onix in the face, causing it to roar in pain.

Elekid came out of a cloud of dust, looking very much injured. Brock's siblings started cheering and Kyle noticed them for the first time, briefly looking away at them.

Big mistake.

"Iron tail!"

through some twist of fate, Elekid struck out with a Brick Break, a lucky blow really, but was near instantaneously overpowered by the multi-ton rock-snake and its gargantuan tail.

the entire Gym actually shook from the massive shockwave, cracking the arena heavily. Kyle stumbled and Meowth fell on his behind, whether or not out of being unbalanced or out of fear remains unknown.

When Onix lifted its tail Elekid's unconscious form was there for all to see. Onix roared, his head hurt somewhat and his tail felt a bit sore, but it was still ready to go.

"You fought well Elekid" said Kyle, returning Elekid before motioning Meoth who gulped and walked forth.

Brock eyed Meowth with suspicion, the fact that Ash was quiet indicated that he was far more serious now, and as such he won't let him have the first move, not this time.

"Onix, Dragon Breath!" Onix roared and shot its Dragon Breath, only for Meowth to run out of the way and towards him with some very unexpected level of speed.

Meowth's speed wasn't actually attributed to any training Kyle had him do, it's just that Meowth was used to running away, so running quickly became a second nature to him. From Brock's point of view he appeared as nothing more that a cream-colored blur. This won't do.

"Onix, use Sandstorm and Rock Tomb!"

"Meowth use dig!"

"Follow it!"

Onix roared and a storm of sand cover the field, causing Meowth to actually slow down. Then multiple chunks of hardened rock levitated and went flying straight at Meowth, who hid in the ground with dig. Onix instantly followed after him, creating a massive hole in the ground unlike Meowth's small one.

after a few long seconds the Gym shook and Onix came out roaring in pain with Meowth hanging off the back of its head. somehow Meowth managed to scratch it in the eye.

"Onix!"

"Meowth, Iron Crusher!"

Letting go of Onix when the massive creature slowed down, Meowth used Iron Tail and Channeled Rock Smash into it, causing the white tail to grow luminous with orange light.

Meowth struck out, scoring a massive blow on the already-dazed Onix.

"Onix, Dragon Breath!"

"Iron Crusher once more!"

Onix barely had enough time to turn to Meowth before it was slapped in the face by Meowth's glowing tail.

The deal was sealed when Meowth landed on Onix's body and rushed to the beast's head, pulling out his claws.

in a flash of unusual agility Meowth struck out and landed gracefully on its feet, a moment later and Onix fell over with a loud thud, knocked out cold.

Silence ensues a moment longer before Kyle burst out cheering as Meowth walked over to him, looking oddly pleased and examining its paws in utter awe.

Brock looked over and saw his siblings walking towards the arena, looking somewhat depressed. Meanwhile Misty walked to Kyle.

"Well Ash, that wasn't as bad as it should've been!" whats up with those stupid passive-aggressive compliments anyway?

Brock walked over to Kyle, cupping something in his palm.

"Well Ash, that was certainly unlike any other battle I've ever had. You defiantly deserve the Boulder Badge, but just one question remains - if that was what it appears to be, a Rock Smash and Iron Tail combination, then how did you teach Meowth Rock Smash? Meowth's can't learn that move!"

"Every one can learn how to smash rocks Brock." Kyle answered, taking the Boulder Badge.

"That's ridiculous!"

"You're ridiculous!" Kyle couldn't help but to retort childishly. Brock chuckled at that.

"Well, you certainly have a long way to go Ash."

"Well I beat you, didn't I?" He decided to rub that in, Brock had a different idea in mind though.

"Yeah, but I could have had Onix use Earthquake when you told Meowth to use dig. The match would've ended right there and then."

Kyle's eyes widened and Misty burst out laughing, soon to be joined by Brock's brothers and sisters as Meowth shivered at the thought. Brock himself gave a weak smile and poked Kyle in the forehead.

"You know, I myself never cared much for Pokemon battles. I rather heal and restore than battle, which is why I always wanted to be a Pokemon Breeder. What about you Ash, what is your dream?"

What was his dream? That's a good question. He already had an answer to that one.

"To have a great adventure and to explore ne worlds." Brock nodded to that, it was a fine dream, although oddly phrased

"Brock!" a familiar voice was heard as they all turned to look over the bearded man, who removed his beard and hat to reveal his true identity.

"My father" Brock said with some disgust as his siblings all gasped.

Flint looked over to Ash and they nodded to each other before he took a step forward, he didn't seem as surprised about Kyle's discovery, he likley took some time to think those following momets through.

"It is high time for me to stop being a coward and to take responsibility for my actions. I am ready to raise my children."

Brock took a step forward and Flint flinched before taking a deep breath.

then Brock pulled out a sewing needle of all things and gave Flint a pen and a notebook before he started ranting about everyones preferences, wants and needs.

"S-slow down! I can't write that fast!" Kyle smiled a little and Misty rolled her eyes at how easily Brock forgave Flint for abandoning his family.

-*5-

"So Ash, you wouldn't mind me joining you, would you?" Brock asked, already wearing a big blue hicker's bag. Kyle shrugged and looked over to Misty, who was getting up on her bike at the moment. She sighed and nodded "I wouldn't mind."

Kyle looked over to Brock and smiled a little "Well Brock, sure thing then!"

Brock smiled as well, he left his personal team at the Gym and took only some of the more 'disposable' Pokemon available, not that he believed in using such crude terminology when talking about Pokemon of course.

the human trio and Meowth then started walking (or in Misty's case, riding) up the road, after leaving Pewter Kyle suddenly recalled something important that he forgot.

Well, might as well...

"Meowth, say something."

"Wha'cha wan' me to say?"

Brock stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Meowth with a mix of incredulity and wonder.

"Wait what?!"

* * *

And that's all she wrote folks! Well, not a she but you know what I mean.

truth be told, this chapter was very difficult for me to write down. After coming to Pewter and meeting Flint Kyle decided to take a long, long, break from traveling and use all of his time to train his Pokemon.

He doesn't have anywhere to rush to after all, or does he?

Kyle's methods of training are pretty intense by most standards, evident by the fact that he let Elekid just take random shots of Thunderbolt from an overpowered Starmie, and just when Elekid was getting used to it Kyle had said Starmie to sucker punch him with random Thunderbolts.

By the way, are you guys noticing the random puns that I spread all around this chapter? Yeah they were all done on purpose, I am a sick person and I need help.

He threw a rock at Magikarp, she is yet to forgive him for that. There's some ulterior reason for that as well, and not one that just has to do with the plot. maybe.

As is it, Kyle's training methods proved to be good enough all things considered - Elekid did learn Thunderbolt, Brick break and Rock Smash, not to mention some other skills, and so did Meowth and the rest of his Pokemons.

Flint was actually a bit impressed with the boy, so much so that he went to talk to him, but the tables have been both turned **and** flipped and all of a sudden Flint's big secret was revealed!

Meowth now trusts Kyle a bit more after their conversation.

Off to the match itself then.

Elekid and Kyle got the drop on Geodude and Brock, and Kyle sure as heck wasn't going to let that brief moment of surprise go to waster! No no, he had Elekid beat Geodude down to the ground with all he had, without even leaving Geodude with a single moment to retaliate or defend itself!

That worked well enough, but then Brock called Onix onto the field and the same thing happened - only to Elekid!

after tossing him like a rag doll Onix landed a brutal Dragon Breath which wasn't enough to knock out Elekid. Elekid briefly fought fire with fire when he used his Thunderbolt (heh), and the effects did help Kyle but in the end Elekid was crushed under Onix's massive Iron Tail.

It was only due to Meowth's newfound trust that he walked over to the field to fight Onix. He really wasn't expecting to win. Guess he doesn't know his own strength yeah? In a surprising turn of events, Meowth Best the somewhat injured Onix by himself, even if said Pokemon was holding back.

it only took him four attacks too.

Kyle got the Boulder Badge and all was well and good, not to mention that Brock officially joined up with the gang, always a bonus to have him tag around. He'll also help Kyle out from time to time, although that's not the type of goal he had in mind when deciding to accompany Ash.

Poor Meowth, Brock most definitely won't be leaving him alone any time soon.

Best thing about the chapter is that Misty still didn't get her bike blown up for some reason or another.

Well enough with that, this chapter is already damn massive (by my standards at least, and I write all of my chapters and proofread them in one go) so I think that wrapping up what I have to say would be a pretty good idea overall.

Next chapter will about Mt. Moon... Or maybe not? hahaha, honestly I really don't think that Kyle will want to get into that giant cave maze willingly. Poor Seymour, whatever will he do with himself?

as of now I think I'm going to take a break from writing fanfiction for a week or two, it's a lot more tiring than one would think as a reader.

So anyway, off to the move list:

1) Elekid.  
Ability: Static  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Quick Attack, Thunder Shock, Barrier, Leer, Rock Smash, Brick Break, Thunderbolt.  
Combinations: Shield Rush (Quick Attack and Barrier)

2) Spearow  
Ability: Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Peck, Quick attack, Fury Attack, Focus Energy, Steel Wing, Sand Attack, Agility.  
Combinations: None

3) Magikarp  
Ability: Swift Swim  
Gender: Female (!)  
Moves: Splash.  
Combinations: None

4) Pidgeotto  
Ability: Keen Eye  
Gender: Female  
Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Ariel Ace, Feather Dance.  
Combinations: None

5) Meowth  
Ability: Technician  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes. Bite, Dig, Rock Smash, Iron Tail, ?.  
Combinations: Iron Crusher (Iron Tail and Rock Smash)

6) Beedrill  
Ability: Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Poison Sting, String Shot, Bug Bite, Harden, Iron Defense, Twineedle, Fury Attack.  
Combinations: None

And that is all from me, see you guys next time! If you liked this chapter make sure to leave a review!

P.S: We hit the 30,000 mark! Haleluya!


	5. Mount Moon Failures

Well, it sure as hell has been a while!

Nah, it's not like I'm super busy with college or anything, it's just that I kind of lost my passion.  
My two to three-week break turned into more of a year minus two to three-week break, you guys know what I'm saying yeah?

Am I here to stay? Possibly.  
What made me come back? Well, funny thing is that I actually re-read my story and couldn't help but to think to myself "Huh, that was actually pretty good".

Although lots of thing that I write made me cringe, more than a little.  
Do all writers have this kind of problem? 'Cause I'm seriously considering a rewrite.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, most Pokemon fanfictions are just plain trash.  
They end up being trope-filled pieces of junk, using a bunch of cliches to justify their own existence.  
And quite frankly, it annoys me a lot more than it should.

Do I believe myself to be some sort of a saving grace to the Pokemon Fanfiction category? Hell no, I'm not all that good of a writer, but if me and my ideas have made anyone at least someone entertained...

Then I suppose that I served my purpose

Well then, onto the questions then:

 **Renegadestarforce:** Is Charmander gonna be the same or is he gonna be more loyal?

 **Answer:** Well, Charmander is a bit of special case.  
Just think about the circumstances in which it was found by Ash in the anime, and when we do reach that part of the story you won't be nearly as surprised.

I'll leave it at that.

 **TheMysteriousOtaku** : Will you have Kyle teach his Pokemon other martial art moves? Why not have Elekid incorporate Barrier onto its limbs for massive damage?

 **Answers** :

1) Hell yeah he will!  
There is a problem with that, though: Kyle doesn't know any martial arts, and his Pokemon do not possess that combat "instinct" that makes fighting types so utterly lethal in close quarters.

Don't worry though, he'll come up with something eventually.

2) Well, I won't say that it's impossible, but it is an extremely nimble use of Elekid's psychic abilities.  
Abilities and skills that Elekid barely has in the first place.  
It isn't impossible for Elekid to master barrier to the point where it acts like an actual force field (think Haki from one piece), but it is going to be very far from easy.  
Possibly even beyond the level of mastery it will ever achieve in using its barrier.

To put it simply, with enough hard work, the potential is **there** , but it's not all that likely to happen.  
You'll just have to wait and see haha

 **HopesTweets** : Will Kyle battle all the Kanto Gym Leaders? Are the Movies gonna play a role in this story? will Kyle have a Girlfriend?

 **Answers** :

1) He will battle 8 of them.  
There are actually more than 8 gym leaders in any given region, the anime confirmed as much multiple times.  
Will he battle the cannon gym leaders? Probably, yeah.  
Quite frankly, I'm not sure how the readers will react to an OC gym leader

2) Yeah, they will.  
I already mentioned Rota, the setting of the Lucario movie as well as Jack Walker (who actually made an appearance, although he is younger), indicating that the movies are very much canon.  
The more difficult question is how can I keep the flow of the anime going, with movies actually being canon and stuff.

3) No.  
Kyle is a teenager, he is not going to crush on a 10-12-year-old.  
And no one from his actual age group is going to develop feelings for a 10-year-old.  
Plus, I am terrible with romance.

Well then, now that we are done with the exposition and the questions (over 600 words into the chapter haha), it's time for us to actually get going.  
Here's the 7th chapter the Kyle's Kanto run: "Mount Moon Failures!"

* * *

The 18 or so hours it took them to reach were extremely eventful, and Kyle was dead on his feet by the time they got there.  
Once the gang left Pewter-city the environment was starting to turn rougher and rougher, in more ways than one.

To put it simply, Road 3 was utterly filled with trainers.  
In other words, people would just randomly walk up to him and issue a challenge.  
Kyle honestly found it more than a bit odd, but when he brought up this point with Brock and Misty they both looked at him as though he was being crazy.  
So apparently this sort of stuff doesn't just happen in the games! Then again, he did challenge Ritchie the first time he met him, but that wasn't the same thing at all.  
After all, he did somewhat **know** Ritchie, even if not personally.

Kyle was perfectly fine with their challenges, he welcomed them, even.  
Then these battles turned into a nuisance.  
It wasn't as though Kyle just crushed the opposition or that these trainers weren't worth his time. Sure, some of them were trash, but there were others who were much stronger than him.

And that was exactly the problem.

Kyle forgot about the fact that Pokemon can actually **get hurt** during these Pokemon battles.  
and then they need stuff like Potions and Full Restores to get better.  
You know, the type of stuff that neither Kyle or Ash ever thought about packing.

When Kyle had Elekid fight a rather overpowering Gloom, a particularly nasty combination of Stun Spore and Double Team had Elekid run around in circles, all the while his muscles were tearing themselves apart from sheer effort until he collapsed from exhaustion.  
Then Gloom Hit him with Razor Leaf, just to kick the dog when it's down.  
This loss wasn't enough to break Elekid's haughty nature completely, but it was a step in the right direction.

Luckily, Brock was actually prepared and got Elekid back to decent shape in less than half an hour.  
Which was great and all, but Kyle still got an earful from Both him and Misty.

After that, Kyle spent a surprising amount of time being chased by challengers.  
Sheesh, you would think that they had enough competition as it is without bothering him.  
Seriously, the entire place was filled with trainers!

Still, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.  
In the few battles he did participate in, his Pokemon performed at about the level that was expected of them, with one notable exception: Pidgeotto.

Out of the three battles that it participated in, Pidgeotto hasn't won a single one.  
In the anime, Ash's Pidgeotto was actually a bit of chump now that Kyle thought about it, and when compared to Spearow - Kyle found it to be lacking. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but Pidgeotto was just not dishing out as much as she was taking.

Quite frankly, that fact left Kyle pretty concerned.  
He knew that Pidgeotto evolved into a Pidgeot and beat Fearow in the anime, becoming the guardian of an entire flock. Did that mean that Pidgeotto only reached her full potential when she evolved into a Pidgeot? Kyle decided to think about it later.

Then they actually got to the Mountain itself.  
In his mind, Mt. Moon was quite a sight to behold.  
Kyle, who lived his entire life in an urban environment, couldn't help to be awed by the jagged peaks of this great mountain. The lush green environment further complemented the mountain's pyramid-like shape, making it appear like an ancient, great construct rather than a wonder of nature.

And it left Kyle utterly terrified.  
The portrayal of in the games made it seem like a multi-layered maze, but it was far more likely that it was a huge tunnel system.  
And frankly, if the events of the anime repeated themselves then there was a high chance for a tunnel to collapse and leave them all buried inside.

He didn't think something like this would Kill Ash, but then again, he wasn't Ash, wasn't he?

"Mt. Moon," said Misty, effortlessly scaling the side of the mountain on her bicycle "Doesn't the name sound romantic?"  
Meowth snorted at that remark, causing Misty to glare at it.

"People say that huge meteor crashed into the mountain back in prehistoric times" Brock mused "Nowadays, the call it the 'Moon Stone', giving this mountain its name"

To Kyle, it made no sense whatsoever.

Shouldn't there be a crater or something there? Still, with the existence of Pokemon, no event was too unlikely. For all he knows, some legendary Pokemon popped up this mountain for one reason or another.

"Now that's romantic!" Exclaimed Misty, smiling ever so slightly, a dreamy expression spreading across her face.  
"Soun's like A load ta' me" Meowth drawled apathetically, not believing such an absurd tale either.  
Brock, however, shook his head "Well, the place does seem to be associated with the moon, this is one of the only parts in Kanto where the Nidoran family and other moon-related Pokemon can be found"

Kyle considered his words for a moment and found them to be true.  
Even in the games, there were Nidoran all over the place, so Kyle figured that the name "Mt. Moon" was a fitting one all the same.

Meowth just waved its paw dismissively.  
Speaking of Meowth, he was doing wonderfully lately - he hasn't even tried to escape once! Despite the fact the Brock wouldn't stop bothering it, poking and asking for random translations.  
it was only when Kyle reminded the Former Gym Leader that they were in the middle of a road that Brock finally stopped bothering the Cat Pokemon.  
Still, if the gleam in his eyes was anything to go by then that conversation was far from over.

Suddenly, a screech was heard.  
Misty, Brock, Meowth, and Kyle instantly perked up to the sound, it was clearly the cry of a man in great distress.

Misty was the first to react, and her bike accelerated to top speed as she moved to help. A moment later, Kyle charged right behind her.  
Brock tried to follow, but the redhead and the Pallet native left him in the dust. Meowth could only sigh.

By the time Kyle arrived there Misty was already there.  
Was she just... staring? Was she shocked, perhaps? Well, Kyle couldn't blame her.

On the ground laid some sort of scientist with his hands above his head and an entire flock of Zubats trying to gouge out his eyes.  
The girly screams and screeches were definitely his.

Kyle, however, only had one thing to say in light of this "Well, this is certainly a batty situation."  
Then Misty slapped him up top his head "This is not the time for jokes! This guy needs our help."

She was pissed. But so was Kyle  
"Well, so why don't you help him?" he retorted just as harshly.  
Misty's jaw unhinged as if she wanted to open her mouth and repute him, but ultimately it clenched itself with a loud 'click' of teeth.  
Drawing a Pokeball she called out for Starmie before throwing it in a perfect arc. Out came Starmie, and a Thunderbolt later, the Zubat were all on the ground, out cold.

At that moment Kyle actually got the difference, with Pikachu using ThunderShock, the damages only scared them away.  
But now? Yeah, now Misty's Stramie stomped all of them into the ground. If anyone were to randomly get there right now, they might think that Misty was trying to poach Zubats or something.

It was only then when Brock finally got there, panting.  
"Is everything all-...right..." He exclaimed, before stopping in his tracks and actually observing the situation. Between the fainted Zubats, Starmie, and the scientist lying on the ground, the conclusion was obvious.

Realizing that he ran all the way here for nothing, Brock actually groaned with distress before collapsing to his knees.  
Meowth also got there, somehow keeping up with Brock despite only having walked all the way there instead of running.

When it saw the Zubats it could only sigh. if Meowth had the means, it would've caught all of them and delivered their Pokeballs to the boss.  
Well, you win some you lose some. At least Meowth was still alive, right?

Misty walked up to the guy, probably to check up if he was okay, before stumbling backward as he randomly jumped back to his feet, seemingly uninjured and moving in with tear-filled eyes and his arms spread wide.  
Unfortunately for him, this notion of gratitude went amiss.

With a voice that could rip the skies above asunder, Misty screeched and slapped him twice in a blink of an eye. A double slap, if Kyle ever saw one.  
"Don't touch me you creep!" Meowth actually Cringed at that.  
The scientist, Kyle still didn't remember his name, looked about ready to cry. What a wuss.  
"B-B-But you saved me!" he... whined? "it was super-fanta-bulistic! Like, two thumbs up, way up! Even better than that rescue a week ago!"

A week ago...?  
"Oh, Brock my friend! Do you fare well?" the man suddenly exclaimed, making all three companions look at Brock, questioning. The main-man himself could only sigh before smiling a tad forcefully.

"Hello there, Seymour, are you doing well?"  
"Wait, you know that guy?!" Said Misty, pointing at the now identified Seymour.  
"Well, yes. I rescued him a week ago from a hoard of angry Zubats, much like this one." Brock answered, scratching the back of his head "By the way, Seymour, what have you gotten into this time?"

Seymour jerked back dramatically "Whaaa? I did not do such a thing!" what thing? "The lighting is at fault! Whoever done it is greatly upsetting the native residents of the inner caves!"

Striking a pose, Seymour started... chanting?

"When the Zubat began attacking me I thought I was done for, but who should arrive? Heroes, thanks to whom I'm alive!" he kneeled before Misty, grasping at her hand "I'm ALLIIIVVEEE!"  
Misty had a disgusted expression on her face, but she still tried to smile at the weirdo.

Seymour then turned and began walking into the cave, probably expecting them to follow him - which they did, oddly enough.  
"By the way, Ash" Kyle heard Brock say "How did you get there so fast? You caught up to Misty on her Mach Bike, and that's no easy feat to do!"

Said trainer, as well as Meowth, also looked interested at what he had to say, something that made Kyle sweat a little.  
As a side note... Mach Bike? Yeah, he'd do well to remember that particular use of terminology for later.  
"Back In Pallet I used to run track" he found himself answering, perhaps through divine intervention or maybe even sheer dumb luck.  
Anyway, they all seemed to be satisfied with his answer, judging from their expressions.

Unknown to him, Meowth's eyes didn't betray such faith.  
The cat Pokemon knew that there was something seriously wrong with his temporary trainer.

When they walked into line with Seymour, he instantly tried to strike a conversation. Poorly.  
"Did I mention how grateful I am?"  
"Yeah, that might've come about"

The cave honestly seemed more like a huge tunnel system, just like Kyle has suspected.  
Oddly enough, there were only a few other humans around, Kyle figured that most just went around the mountain.

Question is, why didn't they? The power of plot compelled him, apparently.

When looking around, Kyle instantly noticed the light bulbs everywhere, and the lack of Pokemon. He figured that they all chose to hide in the dark rather than spend some time in the light.  
The second thing that Kyle noticed was that it was Brock who led them through the cave, not Seymour. Instead, the scientist was busy giving Meowth some rather unsettling looks.

"Hey, Brock" He called to the older teen "How come you know your way around here?"  
The gym leader chuckled a little "Well Ash, I do go fossil hunting around these parts in my spare time, you'd figure I'd know at least a little about the structure of these tunnels"

Huh, well that was new to him.

Seymour chose this very moment to butt in "Yes! And I have been patrolling these caves in an attempt to locate the troublemakers who did this despicable deed!"  
Misty tilted her head " Troublemakers? Why would they bother with a cave?"

Seymour grew quiet and turned to look at his most recent savior "I am afraid it's because of the Moon Stone"

"The Moon Stone?"

"Yes" he answered, before putting a hand on his chest and smiling ever so slightly "'Tis a tale as old as time" Seymour exclaimed

Oh no...

Raising his other arm in an extravagant motion, probably to entertain his audience, or maybe he just was that much of an oddball, he began reciting

" _The Moon Stone is an awesome boulder,"_

 _"Millions of years old, or maybe older!"_

 _"Deep in these caves, the meteor hides,"_

 _"By its will, the Clefairy race abides!"_

 _"Though no explorer has found the place,"_

 _"Of this legendary rock from outer space!"_

He then randomly pulled a Moon Stone out of nowhere, startling the travelers, and began examining it with a magnifying glass

 _"We studied its fragments for many an hour,"_

 _"And discovered it increases a Pokemon's power."_

 _"And that's why the attackers are here,"_

 _"They've come to take the Moon Stone, or so I fear!"_

Misty, Meowth, and Brock all nodded at that explanation, as if it was the most reasonable thing in the world, while Kyle just stood there, feeling extremely awkward.  
It will take a while for him to get used to all of these random quirks that people in the Pokemon world seemed to display.

"The Moon Stone, huh..." Misty questioned, "Is it really that amazing?"  
"You Bet!' answered the scientist "You know, it's the origin of all Pokemon!"  
"Origin of all Pokemon?"

"Yes! For you see, Pokemon are creatures not native to this world, and what spaceship could've possibly brought them all here? That's right, none other than the Moon Stone! That would explain their affinity to it!"

Kyle knew for a fact that it was a complete load of garbage, but he decided not to comment on that, for the sake of his own sanity.

Brock coughed awkwardly "Well, that's certainly an original theory."  
Seymour then rounded up on Kyle of all people, holding his hand with both of his "You agree with me, right?!"  
"Um, yeah, totally..."

Seymour turned and started walking again as if nothing happened.  
Was he Bipolar?

Before Kyle could raise this question a Clefairy just randomly passed by them, hopping.  
Such a casual sighting from this rare a Pokemon caught them all off guard.

Clefairy had excellent senses and awareness, plus they knew this parts inside and out - Quite frankly, if a Clefairy did not wish to be seen, then it probably wouldn't have been.

Seymour gasped and turned to follow it, as did the rest of them.

Meowth, who was silent up to this point, smiled cruelly before pursuing the tiny fairy Pokemon.

Then they heard it: Steel hitting flash, and a cry of pain.  
When they turned around the corner they faced a surprising individual - A team rocket grunt, not Jessie or James.

A rough-looking man who was giving the scared Clefairy a very intimidating look.  
Next to him stood an absolutely terrifying Raticate, with its teeth gleaming in the lighting of the cave.

A frightened whimper from Seymour drew the man's attention to them.

"And what are you doin'?" He asked in a gruff voice "You should'a minded yer own business!"

He kicked the Clefairy in the face, sending it flying into the wall. It rebounded back to the ground and wasn't getting up.  
The man drew a Pokeball, moving for capture.

Seymour's cry of shock and outrage was a painful one to hear.  
The scientist desperately charged at the Rocket Grunt, but a swift tail strike from Raticate sent threw him back with minimal effort.  
Brock caught the man and helped him to his feet. Seymour was clutching at his ribs and giving Raticate a pained and scared look.

The grunt burst out laughing, and everyone just had about enough of him.

"Geodude, Go!"

"Starmie, Come on!"

"Cry Thunder, Elekid!"

The three Pokemon instantly got into position, all the while Meowth stood back, simply observing, somewhat conflicted.

On one hand, he was a member of Team Rocket and held no moral reservations against capturing that Clefairy.  
On the other hand, he got used to being around the twerps and rather enjoyed their company. Not as much as he liked being around Jessie and James, but between the twerps and their Pokemon, helping his fellow Team Rocket Member was completely unfavorable to Meowth.

So he decided to wait and see.

The grunt, however, wasn't all that smart.

"Yeah, and what's that going to do?" he taunted "Raticate, use Hyper Fang!"  
"Psychic" Misty dismissed.  
Raticate's fangs got a white hue to them as he charged, only for him to be lifted by a strange Cyan-colored force and slammed around the cave.  
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, He was then tossed back to his third-class trainer, slamming into him, clearly unconscious.

Even Kyle felt sorry for him, and Meowth cringed in sympathy. Yeah, he definitely made the right choice.

"Geodude, Rock Tomb!"  
The Rock Pokemon raised its arms, glowing faintly, and a large, cone-shaped, formation of rocks rose from the ground and captured the Team Rocket Grunt and Raticate inside.

Elekid, meanwhile, snorted in annoyance.  
It didn't get to do anything! What was the point of any of this?

The humans relaxed their stances as Seymour walked up to that slab of rock and kicked in contempt. Before cringing and rubbing his foot.  
Was this guy an idiot or something? Kyle honestly wouldn't know, but he did doubt the fact that the man was a "scientist" as he said he was.

"We should call the police," said Brock, turning Kyle's attention to him "They'll probably come and collect him. Until then Geodude's Rock Tomb should hold them in place"

So Brock was planning to just leave this guy, stuck inside a "tomb" made of rocks? Damn. That's savage.  
The mook had similar thoughts and had no reservations against voicing them.

"What do you mean 'till the police get here?" his voice was muffled, but no less angry "Lemmego you slanty-eyed piece of shi-..."  
"Oh, hush you." Misty cut him off dismissively "If it were up to me and Starmie, you'd be waiting inside a block of never-melting ice. So be grateful"

Damn. Misty's cold. Even Elekid looked appreciative of her ruthlessness.  
In a way, that made sense - gym leaders were also held accountable for their part of the region. At least it was so in the games, so Kyle figured that must've been while Misty and Brock were being so unusually cruel.  
After all, the guy **was** a terrorist, something that the anime seemed to ignore from time to time.

Meowth, meanwhile, just stared at the entire gang blandly, all the while hiding much darker thoughts.  
The Cat Pokemon knew that the man the twerps caught wasn't even a field agent, it was a grunt, the lowest of the low, the type of person who always accompanied bigger, badder, individuals and did all of the dirty work without any glory.

As such, Meowth knew perfectly well that something much, much worse was heading their way. And he was right.

"Dear oh dear" a familiar voice called, causing Meowth's eyes to widen "look what the cat dragged in."  
No, anyone but them...

 _"Prepare for trouble!"_

 _"And make it double!"_

 _"To protect the world from devastation!"_

 _"To unite all peoples within our nation!"_

 _"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"_

 _"To extend our reach to the stars above!"_

Twerpette recognized them as well, as she instantly made it obvious "Why are you two here? I thought You'd learn your lesson by now!"  
There was no mistaking it, those were Jessie and James. Well, the motto said as much anyway.

And when the duo came out of the shadows, holding work tools, Meowth couldn't help but pray to Arceus that they made it out of there, because between the gym leaders and the twerp the chances seemed slim to none.

Misty was too keen to remind them of that "What, you came back for seconds or something?"

Jessie snorted "Oh please, Team Rocket already got what they wanted. We just so happened to pass by."  
"And it's a good thing that we did," James resumed "otherwise we would've never found the Clefairy, but now there's one right beside you."

Seymour, who was unusually quiet up to this point, suddenly decided that his input was important.  
"What, you think I'll let you take away the Moon Stone? You won't get away with this!"

The Rocket Duo looked at each other for a moment before snickering in perfect coherence.

"What? Moon Stone? That's just a myth." Jessie refuted "No, Team Rocket has always been about rare Pokemon. Nothing more, nothing less."  
"Indeed, and what rarer a delicacy than Clefairy?" continued her partner in crime "Of course, that's not why we came here, either."

And just like that Seymour had to shut up.

"So what are you doing here, Rockets?!" Brock didn't have such qualms, however, having already recognized them as members of Team Rocket.

More chuckles. By Arceus, this was getting annoying "That's for us to know..."  
"And for you to never find out. For now, we're taking away this Clefairy."

As it was, neither had acknowledged Meowth, but why?

It didn't matter, Starmie moved in for the kill, casting a Thunderbolt on the unsuspecting duo, only for a large dark pulse to collide with it from the opposite direction.  
The two blows were extremely powerful, and the explosion that they caused shook the entire tunnel.

Seymour fell on his behind and both Kyle and Brock struggled to remain standing.  
The explosion blew the Rock tomb away, releasing the low-tier member of team rocket from his temporary confinement.  
The moment it did, he returned his Raticate back to its Pokeball and ran away, not even bothering to look behind.

A cruel laughter was heard.  
"Come now" They heard Jessie say "You really think that we came here alone?"

"Indeed, you did not." Now that was a new voice, belonging to someone that none of our heroes recognized. It was rich and smooth, not unlike that of James, yet different somehow.  
And in walked a man with an odd hair color, somewhere between cyan and neon green. He was wearing a white Rocket uniform that somehow looked particularly fancy despite being relatively simplistic in design.

It was obvious upon first sighting, the man was a Team Rocket Executive. He had one of his hands behind his back and the other on his chin, as if thinking.  
His erect posture spoke of a great deal of confidence.

The Houndoom next to him looked powerful as well, and from what Kyle could tell, neither one of his three human companions recognized the species.  
"You two, secure the Clefairy and head to the designated pick-up spot." The executive spoke, commanding.

"Yes Sir Archer Sir!" The two moved in order to secure Clefairy, but Brock and Misty wouldn't really let them.

"Geodude, Rock Slide!"

"Starmie, Use Scald!"

The two Pokemon moved to attack, but an extremely Powerful Flamethrower struck them directly, inflicting massive damage despite being an ineffective move.  
The Flamethrower hit the ground before spreading sideways towards them.

Elekid Immediately got in the way of that, using Rock Smash on the ground, making large slabs of rock rise and block the backlash of the attack, protecting the three trainers.  
The Electric Type smirked at that.

By the time the flamethrower was done, Starmie barely hung in there and Geodude was out cold.  
The entire tunnel was smoldering, radiating impossible levels of heat. Even the rocks that they used as defense almost completely melted.

With such raw power, the closest Synonym that Kyle could think of was Jack's Raichu, and that alone was a terrifying thought.

He immediately knew that this was no time to play the hero, they needed to get the hell out of there!  
Brock Returned his Geodude and called upon Onix, with the Rock Snake Pokemon barely fitting inside the tunnel at all.

Misty clenched her Pokeballs with desperation.  
The truth was that none of her other Pokemon had the defensive ability to take on a single fire attack from this... this hellhound!

And judging by the widespread effect, they wouldn't be able to dodge it, either.

The three trainers came to an obvious conclusion at about the same time, too bad that Seymour did not happen to agree.

"You thieves! Leave the Clefairy alone and allow them to prosper!" he shouted with indignation, closing in on the criminals.  
Executive Archer could only chuckle.

Then it was all a blur.

"Dig us out of here, Ekans!"

"Houndoom, Flamethrower!"

"Onix, Sand storm!"

"Starmie, Hydro Pump!"

Jessie's Ekans, who apparently hid in the shadows just in case, suddenly emerged and dug into the ground like a drill, with the two field agents jumping right behind it.  
At the same time, Brock Tackled Seymour to the ground by force, preventing the eccentric scientist from doing anything too stupid.

Houndoom's Flamethrower-wall came immediately thereafter.  
Onix's chain-like body began spinning, the sheer power behind to motion shook the cavern, releasing large amounts of dirt and sand, with all of it, and then some, hurling towards the flamethrower.

At that moment, Starmie's Hydro Pump caught up to the Sand Storm, creating an accelerated wave of mud to meet the Flamethrower head on.

The resulting collision was an awesome display.  
A boiling wave of steam and ink-black soot encased the entire tunnel.

Kyle couldn't breathe at all, it was suffocating. He couldn't see either, and the pressure around his body also made his sense of touch worthless.

He wasn't able to react to the danger quickly enough, he supposed that this highlighted the differences between Misty and Brock and Himself - If it wasn't for them, he'd be dead by now.

Even Elekid was too stunned to react. There was a big world out there, apparently.

"Run!" He heard Brock shout, returning his Onix, and after returning Elekid he immediately followed former Gym leader.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Kyle did nothing but move towards the closest possible exit.  
He overtook Brock and continued to run away from his death, not caring about anyone or anything else except for his own life.

Before he knew it, he got outside of the tunnel, reaching what seemed to be a ravine Between some of 's peaks.  
Brock eventually caught up, but it was only a few moments later when Kyle saw that something was missing.

Where were Meowth and Misty, or even Seymour for that matter?

* * *

'Those unbelievable jerks!' was Misty's sole thought as she chased the Rocket Duo.

When they dug their way underground, Misty traced Ekans's path and made sure to follow immediately.

Starmie allowed her to follow through with this effortlessly, with the Star-Shaped Pokemon having no trouble pinpointing their location even in this horrible a condition thanks to its innate psychic ability.

She got to a ravine, with a Pokemon-made bridge above her and a shallow creek at her feet.  
She then spotted uneven ground, indicating the use of Dig. She immediately followed it as quickly as her feet could carry her.

"No' so Fast, Twerpette!" a familiar voice exclaimed and Misty then stumbled, something seems to have caught her leg.  
Falling flat on her face and getting her entire attire wet, Misty cursed silently and kicked with her legs before getting back up.

And out of the ground came Meowth, having used Dig immediately to run away from danger.

In actuality, the thing that Meowth valued most in the world was his freedom. He did not care for either good or bad, the Cat Pokemon wanted nothing more than to be free and do as it pleases. Something that made his capture a bitter event for him, the threats to its health not going amiss, either.

The main reason Meowth interfered though had nothing to do with any personal feelings it had towards the twerps.  
No, it's just that Meowth Still viewed Jessie and James as partners and close friends, he wouldn't allow them to get hurt, not without a fight.

Not even when faced with Misty's glare.  
Meowth took half a step backward and got into a ready position as they both stared at one another.  
Misty's hand inched towards her Pokeballs, but that very instant Meowth drew its claws. It was a standoff.

Meowth knew that if Misty got any of her Pokemon out then he'd be done for, but they both knew that Meowth was much faster than Misty - It would be able to strike her down faster than she would be able to call out her Pokemon.

And that made all the difference in the world.

Although Misty had something to say about that.

"You lying cat! I can't believe Ash trusted you! I knew you should've been locked up!" these words might've stung, but the cat could honestly not bring itself to care for her opinion - She wasn't a friend, nor was she a comrade.

"Yeah Well maybe he's Jus' Stoop'd Like Ya'r!" Meowth retorted. A moment later it was about to go for the kill when suddenly a water gun hit it directly.  
Meowth was sent flying diagonally before colliding with solid rock and falling down to the ground.  
The blow was very precise yet not all that powerful, so Meowth was able to shake it off with some pain.

Meowth looked at the attacker and saw that it was Starmie, still heavily injured. Well, honestly it wasn't all that bad as far as situations go, Meowth could still get to the girl in time and...

"Starmie, Use Recover!"

Oh, come on!

Starmie glowed a neon yellow, its condition improving in a blink of an eye before it floated to Misty, guarding her.  
The only thing worse than that was the girl's confident smirk, it was as if she thought this fight was already over.  
"Ready to cry uncle, Kitty-cat?" Misty taunted, but someone like her could never comprehend what was going through Meowth's mind at the moment.

You see, Meowth joined Team Rocket because they provided him with freedom, giving him the title of 'criminal' and a validation to do whatever he pleased.  
But after a lifetime of failures, Meowth also wanted to grasp at success. The type of success that Ash provided him with.

The type of success he was about to claim against Misty.  
For you see, Meowth's natural 'fight or flight' instinct screamed at him to make a stand, for the second time in his life. Perhaps it was pride that was speaking, but Meowth refused to back down.

 _"You are only delaying the inevitable, you know"_ called out a voice, it was melodic and beautiful, but it held a distinct flavor of contempt to it.  
It was Starmie. Even his foe treated him like a joke. Good.

Examining the terrain, Meowth instantly realized that it was surrounded by water.

Shallow as it was, it might've been enough to give Starmie even more of an advantage. But Meowth could use it all the same.  
In more than one way, Misty was not a factor in this single encounter: Her cocky disposition would not allow her to assist Starmie before it was too late.

Meowth held no delusions of grandeur, he was going to win, but to do so he had to end the fight in a single flurry of blows.

Meowth got down to its fours, lowering his center of gravity, and Misty actually snorted at his attempt "Don't tell me you're staying!"  
But he was, because if he did not, the girl and her Starmie would easily catch up to Jessie and James, with the two of them having a close to zero chance at victory.

Meowth had no fear, only resolve.  
He stepped forward, prepared to unleash his trump card, a move that he was holding back from the twerps.

He only got one shot at this.  
Somewhere near, a single drop of water splattered on the shallow waters, and both combatants instantly exploded into motion.  
Meowth charged right ahead, unleashing the full vigor of his faith in an unprecedented burst of speed.

At that very same instant, Starmie shot a Thunderbolt, but it would do it no good.

Based on his observations, Meowth easily read the trajectory behind the attack and evaded, using the slippery stones beneath its feet to slide and duck at the same time, spinning in place to gain some rotational momentum and hold its balance all the while completely evading the attack.

Starmie recovered in an instant, aiming a water gun at Meowth.  
But Meowth already saw how Starmie inclined its head, beginning his dodging motion even before the Water Gun formed.  
The attack completely missed him, and right when Meowth got to Starmie's side, he used his Iron Tail to cut his momentum in an instant.

Raising its claws, Meowth aimed them right at Starmie from below.  
It wasn't fast enough to physically dodge Meowth's surprise attack, and attempting any move from this distance might blow up in its face.

"Starmie, use psychic!" Starmie heard its trainer call, sounding legitimately worried for the first time.

Yes, that is ought to do that.  
Starmie unleashed its psychic grasp, intending to throw Meowth back to its litter, but the infuriating cat could only smirk. Starmie had no Idea how badly it messed up.

Meowth's claw glowed light purple, breaking the psychic energy that tried to get ahold of him.

"Starmie-..."  
Too little, too late.  
With his claws splitting the water beneath, Meowth's paw moved as sharply, as if it was a bolt of black lightning, hitting Starmie's core with dead-on precision.

Starmie shivered and collapsed onto the ground. The silence that followed was deafening.

It was then cut off by the sound of surging electricity before Misty screamed in shock and pain, collapsing to the ground.

James put his taser back in his side pocket and Jessie Picked up Misty's Pokeball belt, with the two of them having somehow gotten behind Misty.

"Good job luring the girl here, Meowth" James drawled, sounding as posh as his background would suggest "We couldn't have done it without you."

What did they mean by-...  
 _"look what the cat dragged in."  
_ Meowth's eyes widened as he realized the reason that neither Jessie or James commented about him being with the twerps - They thought he was being a double agent!  
They weren't wrong, in a sense, but not completely right either.

Jessie returned Starmie back to its Pokeball and turned to leave, motioning Meowth to follow her to the takeoff position.

Sparing Misty one last look, Meowth followed. The cat didn't know if he wanted to stay a member of Team Rocket or not, but for now, he will hold this small victory close to his heart.

Wherever it may lead him.

* * *

The Elder Clefable was in a pickle.  
Despite the fact that the humans left their species well alone, instead choosing to take some meaningless rocks, the situation was still quite a problematic one.

The truth was that the Clefairy family, despite being very kind and even playful, were a secluded tribe.  
They held their traditions close, and their secrets were well guarded even among other Pokemon, even more so from humans.

As such, the Cefairy couldn't bring themselves to meddle in the affairs of these humans, regardless of how they chose to act and whether or not they were "good" or "evil".  
No, instead they chose to take on a much more passive stance on the matter.

As such, despite it being well within their power, the Clefairy chose to let the humans do whatever they pleased, as long as they did not hurt one of their own or desecrated the Moon Stone in any way.

Up until these very last moments, the humans have kept their distance, yet now they've taken one of Clefable's own. This type of loss is always severe, even for one as aged and worldly as the elder Clefable, And it would pray for the youngster's soul.

But that wasn't the problem, either.  
The young one will be dearly missed, but much bigger events were at play here. The Moon Stone was reacting uneasily, and both Father and Mother noticed it.  
Kanto would suffer great losses should Father and Mother try to take action.

The Clefairy's strife resonated with the ancient marvel, making it unbalanced - even the energy that it provided them seemed weaker, despite it being a night of full moon, the light from the Moon Stone has gotten dimmer somewhat.

Something big was coming, something that their prophet of the moon recognized as a disturbance.

One might ask how could the Clefairy understand the Moon Stone and interpret its light as a sign of anything.  
After all, for most, it would seem as though it was just a rock.  
The question was fair, and the answer was one of Clefable's most kept secrets.

For you see, the Moon Stone was not a meteorite. In fact, it wasn't even a stone at all.  
It was an egg, an egg that contains something that has guided the Clefairy and their kin for eons.

Something that they must protect and keep hidden at all costs.

* * *

Well Damn, that's a wrap!

Unlike the previous chapter, which was all about Kyle becoming a badass, this one ended on a much more sour note.

All of Misty's Pokemon were stolen, Team Rocket got whatever it was that they were searching for, and got bonus points in the form of at least one Clefairy - Which is one of the rarest of Pokemon in all of Kanto!

Not only that, but Meowth showed his true colors - When push came to shove, Meowth's bond with Team Rocket proved to be stronger than the one that it had with Kyle!

Might that change one day? Possibly!

I actually didn't want to write this chapter because all of my ideas looked like shit, and whenever I tried to write something it would come off as terrible.

Even this version of the chapter leaves much to be desired, and I am not pleased with it at all.  
Maybe some of you liked it, huh?

Here are a few points I'd like to address.

 **The distance between Pewter and Mt. Moon**

According to official resources, you can actually see all the way from Pallet, so even if it's a super tall mountain I think that 18 hours is a reasonable timeframe.

 **Is Pidgeotto a Weak Pokemon?**

Look, I know that a lot of fanfics like to portray Ash's Pidgeotto as a powerful Pokemon, more so after it became a Pidgeot, but that ain't the truth.  
If you were to look up Pidgeotto's win/loss ration you would discover that it's a **zero**

That's right, Pidgeotto has never actually won a battle against any named trainer before.  
Ever.  
Making him the only Pokemon Ash has ever had, aside from Lapras (who only had like 1 battle that ended in a draw), who has such a terrible record.

In my version, as well as cannon, Pidgeotto just isn't all that good of a battler.  
Question is, what will Kyle do about it?

 **Brock Meeting Seymour**

Kyle spent a week or so training for his fight with Brock, that's a solid extra 4-5 days when compared to Ash.  
Time continued to move accordingly.

Seymour was still attacked, but it was Brock that actually saved him.  
And now he was attacked again by the Zubats, cuz He's a dork and does lots of stupid things.

By the way, the difference in time frames during the story will become more and more obvious as time goes on, with Kyle losing some of the opportunities that Ash had while gaining others.

A big theme in the story is how Kyle isn't "The Chosen One" like Ash was, and as such, the world doesn't revolve around him.

 **Brock looking for fossils**

This is actually canon for the games, believe it or not.

 **Meowth Vs Starmie**

This one was a difficult fight to write, at the risk of making it seem like the kind of asspull a shonen protagonist would make.  
Still, I think that this was a reasonable encounter.

Starmie is far more powerful than Meowth, to the point that they can't even be compared. Even the slightest attack from a serious Starmie is probably enough to knock Meowth out cold.  
But the water gun that hit Meowth was very much weakened, so he dealt with it just fine.

That being said, Meowth really didn't stand a chance under any circumstances, except for these ones.

Starmie used Recover after being critically injured and was a weakened version of itself.  
Furthermore, both it and Misty were being massively cocky, completely confident that they could blow anything that Meowth would try out of the water.  
As such, Misty essentially abandoned Starmie to its own whims. And that gave Meowth all the advantage it needed.

Unlike Starmie, Meowth was perfectly fine fighting by itself without the help of a trainer.  
Meowth was a trained field agent of Team Rocket, after all. Standard tactics training and its own experience allow Meowth to battle effectively without anyone telling him what to do.

Aside from that, Meowth has observed Starmie a lot, and knew some of its "tells" as a result.  
These include the fact that Starmie's water gun came out of the upper part of its body, and that Thunderbolt had a tad of a zigzaggy trajectory to it, something that made it very difficult to dodge from close quarters.

So Meowth was able to read through some of a tired-Starmie's attacks and close the distance thanks to his relatively high speed.  
That still didn't stop Starmie from just blowing him away with psychic.  
But Meowth had a trump card.

In the episode "Jumping Rocket Ship!" Meowth claimed that he was learning Night Slash, but it was too scary to actually use.  
According to my interpretation of that, Meowth was actually learning Night Slash all the way back from season one, and the only thing stopping him from using it was fear.  
Fear that Kyle, as well as his resolve, helped him overcome.

So when Starmie used Psychic, Meowth's Dark-Type move easily ripped through it and dealt the starfish a great amount of damage.  
Enough to knock it out cold.

So you see, this wasn't just a "burst of willpower" kind of thing, Meowth only won thanks to specifics.

As a side note, the fact that Jessie and James were able to sneak up on Misty so easily is also an indicator for all of the training that they went through.

Team Rocket isn't a joke.

 **What happened to Seymour?**

Meh, who cares?  
Suffice to say, the guy won't be appearing ever again. That's what happens when you mess with Team Rocket hahaha.

If any of you are actually interested then Feel free to PM me.

Anyway, if you got any questions then add them to your reviews or something, I don't really like spam PMs anyway (with that one notable exception about Seymour)

 **Kyle's Pokemon**

 **1) Elekid**  
Ability: Static  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Quick Attack, ThunderShock, Barrier, Leer, Rock Smash, Brick Break, Thunderbolt.  
Combinations: Shield Rush (Quick Attack and Barrier)

 **2) Spearow**  
Ability: Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Peck, Quick Attack, Fury Attack, Focus Energy, Steel Wing, Sand Attack, Agility.  
Combinations: None

 **3) Magikarp**  
Ability: Swift Swim  
Gender: Female (!)  
Moves: Splash.  
Combinations: None

 **4) Pidgeotto**  
Ability: Keen Eye  
Gender: Female  
Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Sand-Attack, Ariel Ace, Feather Dance.  
Combinations: None

 **5) Meowth (Pokeball only)**  
Ability: Technician  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Bite, Dig, Rock Smash, Iron Tail, Dark Slash.  
Combinations: Iron Crusher (Iron Tail and Rock Smash)

 **6) Beedrill**  
Ability: Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Moves: Poison Sting, String Shot, Bug Bite, Harden, Iron Defense, Twineedle, Fury Attack.  
Combinations: None

And that's about it!  
See you guys soon!


End file.
